Should large investors be capped at 350 single-family homes?

The Senate says yes—but critics warn it could slow new construction.

One of the most debated pieces of a major bipartisan housing bill.

📖 bit.ly/4mw9LVF

#HousingPolicy #InstitutionalInvestors #HousingCrisis #YIMBY

Property Taxes Aren’t the Cause of Our Housing Crisis, They’re a Solution to It Podcast Episode · Shelterforce · April 8 · 13m

Eliminating property taxes sounds like relief — until you see what makes up the difference. Sales taxes and fees hit lower-income residents hardest. Property taxes are 70% of local revenue. There's a smarter path.

🎧 apple.co/4tce8Yd

#TaxPolicy #LandValueTax #HousingPolicy #ShelterInAFederalStorm

Creative affordable housing models aren't just for nonprofits.

Thrive Living used Costco's rent instead of LIHTC.
A Lexington developer found local + CDFI funding easier and less risky than federal grants.

New paths forward exist.

📖 bit.ly/4vuuI7g

#AffordableHousing #HousingDevelopment

The company that owns Tucson’s power utility made $1.6B in profit in 2024. Tucson disconnections are up 32% since 2021. The 25-year franchise deal just expired. What happens next could reshape how the city gets power for a generation.

bit.ly/4vsKRKF

#Tucson #PublicPower

No new spending—but big impact.

The federal housing bills could reshape how housing gets built: streamlined permitting, zoning incentives, and permanent HOME + disaster recovery programs.

Small tweaks. Real implications.

bit.ly/4mw9LVF

#HousingPolicy #AffordableHousing #HOMEProgram #CDBGDR

Land value tax is having a moment. Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Detroit, Baltimore, Spokane, Seattle — all actively exploring it. This doesn't need federal action. Cities can move today.

📖 bit.ly/4tIlin2

#LandValueTax #HousingPolicy #LocalGovernment #ShelterInAFederalStorm

Counties own vacant lots that could become affordable housing today. Miami-Dade proved it. NACo + Smart Growth America have helped 23 counties replicate the model, from Baltimore to Honolulu.

📖 bit.ly/4vuuI7g

#AffordableHousing #PublicLand #LocalGovernment #ShelterInAFederalStorm

Will Tucson Take Back Its Power—Literally? — Shelterforce A utility shutoff led me to look more closely at who provides my city’s power. It turns out there's a push to create a public-owned utility.

A reporter came home to no power because their LIHEAP app sat in limbo for 6 months. Now they are investigating whether Tucson should own its own utility. It’s more complicated than you’d expect.

📖 bit.ly/4vsKRKF

#PublicPower #EnergyJustice

The Federal Housing Bill: ‘A Bunch of Tweaks, But Good Ones’ — Shelterforce The outcome of two housing bills could be a broad update to federal housing and community development rules—or it all might fall apart.

Congress just passed major housing bills with rare bipartisan support (390–9, 89–10).

They’re dense—covering zoning, manufactured housing, CLTs, investor caps, and more—and now head to conference.

Shelterforce breaks it down: bit.ly/4mw9LVF

#HousingPolicy #AffordableHousing #HousingCrisis

Are Dedicated ‘Sin Taxes’ a Useful Path for Affordable Housing Funding? — Shelterforce Taxes on controversial activities are often appealing ways to fund affordable housing. Here's how that's been working in four communities.

What if you taxed data centers, Airbnbs, marijuana, or casinos — and sent that money straight to housing? Four cities tried it. The results are real, and the limits are honest.

Read more: shelterforce.org/2026/04/16/a...

Split-rate taxation cut homeowner taxes by a third in Millbourne, PA and turned a vacant lot into a tax-paying business. 20 PA municipalities have used it over 100 years. The track record is real.

📖 bit.ly/4tIlin2

#LandValueTax #AffordableHousing #ShelterInAFederalStorm

How Public Banks Can Meet Public Needs — Shelterforce Amid federal funding cuts, the idea of public banks is gaining ground as a tool for states and localities to finance community development.

States and cities pay $160B/year in interest to private banks. A public bank would let them keep that money — and put it to work for housing and community development.

The movement is growing: shelterforce.org/2026/04/15/h...

“In the Bronx, we are building the most affordable housing. . . . We’re the most affordable borough, but it’s not affordable [for] who lives here,” Lobo says. “We will be a very different place in 5, 10 years with these ballot measures.”

Read the story: bit.ly/3QxzPU8

#AffordableHousing #NYC

Philadelphia's Built to Last program sequences repairs correctly — roof first, ventilation before air sealing, moisture before cosmetics. It sounds obvious. Most programs still don't do it.

bit.ly/3QveGde

#HousingPreservation #BuiltToLast #LegacyCities

Free Land, Retail Rents, and Other Ways Cities Are Cutting Reliance on Federal Housing Funds — Shelterforce Here are some of the approaches local governments and developers are using to develop affordable housing with less federal subsidy.

Affordable apartments built on top of a Costco — 184 units, no federal tax credits, no state subsidies.

Retail rent cross-subsidizes housing above the store at a fraction of California's typical cost.

📖 bit.ly/4vuuI7g

#AffordableHousing #HousingFinance #ShelterInAFederalStorm

How We Rewrote a Tax Incentive to Encourage More Affordable Housing  — Shelterforce Chattanooga aligned its housing tax incentive with the actual cost of charging more affordable rents. Developers are participating.

Chattanooga rewrote its tax abatement formula so that adding affordable units improves a developer's bottom line. Market-rate developers who "don't do affordable housing" are now doing it.

Here's how. shelterforce.org/2026/04/14/h...

Today at 1 PM ET.

Join Shelterforce + Lincoln Institute for a live conversation on how to make homeownership more affordable.

Register: bit.ly/4dxHuM1

#HousingNow

People love to complain about property taxes. But what if a split-rate property tax could improve housing costs and urban land use—making vacant lots expensive to hold and cheaper to build on? It's worked in Pennsylvania for a century.

📖 bit.ly/4tIlin2

#LandValueTax #HousingPolicy #UnderTheLens

Nonprofit housing developers and tenant advocates are taking a wait-and-see approach to the ballot measures' effects on political power — signaling the diminished influence of "member deference" in the city council.

Read more: bit.ly/3QxzPU8
#NYC #HousingPolicy

Join us tomorrow for a webinar, Making Homeownership Affordable: Bringing Fannie and Freddie back into Mission

This is a critical conversation on housing affordability and federal policy.

Final chance to register: bit.ly/4dxHuM1

#AffordableHousing

Property Taxes Aren’t the Cause of Our Housing Crisis, They’re a Solution to It — Shelterforce Taxing land and buildings at different rates can discourage land speculation and encourage housing development.

People love to complain about property taxes. But what if a split-rate property tax could improve housing costs and urban land use—making vacant lots expensive to hold and cheaper to build on? It's worked in Pennsylvania for a century.

📖 bit.ly/4tIlin2

#LandValueTax #HousingPolicy #UnderTheLens

"Landlord," by LindoYes In this poem, poet Lindo Jones, known as LindoYes, describes the lifelong effects of eviction on a child. For more housing-related poetry, visit https://shelterforce.org/poetry/.

“I folded myself inside of myself.”

A poem about eviction, memory, and survival.

Listen to the full piece: bit.ly/4t1WrLc

#Poetry #HousingJustice

2 days to go.

If you care about housing affordability, policy, or community development—this is for you! Join us for a webinar presented by Shelterforce and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy on April 16.

Register now: bit.ly/4dxHuM1

#HousingPolicy

The knowledge to maintain older housing exists.

What doesn't exist is a system to get that information to the programs, lenders, and contractors who need it. The result: essential maintenance is skipped and buildings deteriorate.

bit.ly/3QveGde

#HousingPolicy #BuildingScience #HousingPreservation

When federal housing support is uncertain, local leaders are stepping up.

✔️ Shared housing in Camden County — no new funding needed
✔️ Cities cutting reliance on federal subsidies
✔️ Property taxes as a solution, not the problem

Read here: conta.cc/4cBQ0Zf

#AffordableHousing #HousingPolicy

67% of Philadelphia's buildings predate 1950.

Black & Latine residents disproportionately live in those homes. When those buildings fail, households of color lose housing and generational wealth.

bit.ly/3QveGde #HousingJustice

#RacialEquity #AffordableHousing

Sandra Lobo of Our Bronx questions the extent to which land use reviews have caused construction delays with affordable housing. Our Bronx opposed all three housing-related ballot measures.

Read the story: bit.ly/3QxzPU8

#HousingJustice #NYC #Displacement

From one building to a citywide movement.

That’s tenant power!

🎧 Listen here: apple.co/4bVZkqN

#TenantPower

“We’ve normalized eviction.”

This poem asks us to see it differently.

bit.ly/4cfiWot

Property taxes aren't killing housing production — they might actually be part of the fix. Taxing land and buildings at different rates can discourage speculation and push owners to build.

A fresh look at land value taxation and what it means for affordable housing.
shelterforce.org/2026/04/08/p...