What We’ve Gotten Right — and are Getting Wrong — on Affordable Housing

The U.S. has a prominent, federally funded, $17 billion example of successful, economically integrated community building. The nation’s leading housing expert explains why we’re not using it to solve our housing crisis

By Bruce Katz
Guest Commentary

Renters Need Safe Healthy Homes Too

Homeowners aren’t the only ones who need affordable housing that’s fair for its occupants. A tenants rights advocate asks City Council to crack down on negligent landlords

By Melissa Monts
The New Urban Order

276,000 Acres of Public Land Hiding in Plain Sight

How can cities unlock land they already own for uses like affordable housing and conservation? The head of one promising initiative offers new tools — and potential solutions

By Diana Lind

Can Josh Shapiro “Get Sh*T Done” on Housing?

The Governor’s budget address focused on solutions to our state’s housing crisis, the most bipartisan issue in the legislature. But will it go far enough?

By Jon Geeting
Guest Commentary

It’s Philadelphia’s Big Housing Moment. Who’s Keeping Watch?

H.O.M.E. is Philadelphia's most ambitious housing investment in decades. A civic infrastructure consultant argues that the city still lacks something essential: an independent account of housing system health.

By Amanda Soskin

Defining Our Housing Challenge(s)

Laying out the seven distinct but intersecting problems that boil down to: "How do you build more homes that people can afford?"

By Bruce Katz and Colin Higgins
The New Urban Order

Where’s the American Dream for Renters?

Renters — an entire generation who can’t afford to buy a house — deserve economic mobility, too. The solution: Programs that help save money and build equity

By Diana Lind
Ideas We Should Steal

Keep Philly Renters from Drowning in Junk Fees

Undisclosed in rental leases, add-on costs threaten to upend affordable housing. Seattle and other cities have begun to put a stop to the practice

By Cristian Salazar

Adios, 2025 …

… happy to have you in the rear view. Here, the things we cared about in the year that was — and what to expect in 2026.

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
The New Urban Order

The Four Best Things to Happen in Cities in 2025 …

… and one city that had a very very bad year

By Diana Lind