People

Unaffordable housing has become a public concern worldwide. These days an owner and/or rental landlord is almost certainly interested in the modern cleverness of investing in housing. That investment...

Feeling low? kick a football! Life got you down? Pot a plant! A recent study from AustraliaTry: Too Many Aussie Homeless? Yes! Even More Shocking: The Rate They Die! suggests...

Olivia Chow is the Mayor of the City of Toronto in Canada. Sakaja Arthur Johnson is the Governor of Nairobi City County in Kenya. Both are strong supporters of...

Leaders in Canada and the United States are working on strategies to add to their country's supply of affordable housing. This post is about two of those strategies. These leaders...

The New Zealand locations may be unfamiliar, but the housing crisis there is locally familiar within many wealthier nations around the world. From The New Zealand Herald: "Census data reveals...

Queer veterans in the United States are on the point of opening a transitional housing project in Seattle called Q'mmunity House. In the United States, the Department of Veterans Affairs...

Recently, Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, invited Ontario's mayors to request that he invoke the Notwithstanding ClauseThe Notwithstanding Clause refers to a provision in Canada's constitution, which allows...

Imagine working in a shelter for homeless people. The shelter's clients are living through a very difficult time: they have no housing. And no matter how motivated they are,...

Arlene Hache been homeless in the Northwest Territories in Canada. She has also led an urban support centre for families with low incomes for 30 years. For these and...

This is a story about a change in regulations that hasn't got a lot of attention in the mainstream media. The change should make a big difference for people...

Some while back, the American agency responsible for government-guaranteed affordable housing launched a housing 'demonstration' program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed that deteriorating public housing...

If you didn't recently see one or both of the following articles about homelessness, you've missed an example of how self-important housing activists can be. Wrapped up in the...

Recently, a group of researchers in Toronto compared the health care costs of people who were homeless with people who weren’t. There’s been enough media coverage about homeless people using...

Sure. We all know the poor decisions and poor choices that dump the unworthy into social housing. Let's spell some out, shall we? carelessness health issues illegal drugs ...

People in Toronto are struggling to put food on the table. The annual report of food bank activity, called Who's Hungry 2024, has some very large numbers. There were...

Let's set aside convenient fallacies that all cops are sadistic brutes. And that all the unhoused are crazoid drug fiends. Let's take a much broader view of the participants in...

Welcome to a Miss Piggy Post. (But what about MOI?) This writer once attempted to inveigle children into brainstorming a social space development project — a better school educational experience...

Does Canada, with a substantially different "social" health system, have anything to offer the U.S. with its largely private-enterprise driven health care? Possibly. Certain aspects of publicly and privately funded health...

On any given day, a search on Google Scholar for articles about homelessness can bury you with results. With so many studies to choose from, why select an undergraduate...

The term "social entrepreneurship" seems to flirt with contradictions, given that "entrepreneurship" is a generally associated with individual self-improvement, while "social" suggests that many may be involved. So what does...

"Seniors tend to walk more for recreation than do other demographics, but also do so more slowly given increased reliance on mobility assistive devices like canes, walkers, and wheelchairs." This...

The City of Calgary in Alberta is growing, but not in the right places. The City's plan calls for adding population in parts of the city that are already...

Here's a stunning conclusion from a New Zealand study of occupant satisfaction in major styles of housing. Public Housing tops the occupant satisfaction scale. Now surely there must be some...

It began as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). Actually, that's not quite correct. In 1990 it began as an organization called the Local Governments for Sustainability, a...

Sleeping in a university library is usually an illegal use of educational facilities, quite probably only possible thanks to good-hearted blind eyes of university staff who recognize it's hard...

It's hard to imagine there is anybody on earth who has not experienced a WASHWASH:     WAter Sanitation Hygiene event at least once in their life. We...

Some outside the United Kingdom are aware of a young dragon-slayer who materialized on that national stage in 2022. He was close enough to penniless, but enjoyed photography. And...

The article linked to this post is a good example of bringing the voice of lived experience to research. The research subjects in the study are young people who...

How does the above headline fit with you in your country? Does it seem to be 'over the top?' Surely it should be a somewhat more measured comment, or...

Students enter architecture programs for different reasons. This post reports on the work of two people, Adi Kumar and Wanda Dalla Costa, who are steering the profession of architecture...

Jaimee Frances Edwards is growing plants in her garden. She has no illusions that she'll enjoy the fruits of her labour in the years ahead. She's well aware that...

In London, Ontario, a homeless woman died 10 days before she was due to move into her home. Her death triggered a hunger strike. A short time later, the...

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the case of Grants Pass v Johnson, what’s next? This post is the first in a four-part series about post-decision...

Private health care insurers have steered clear of enrolling people who are homeless as plan members. Most of the health care for people who are homeless is paid for...

Just who in Multnomah CountyMultnomah County includes Portland and five other cities in the state of Oregon won an award for its innovations to serve older people who...

Fernanda Canales is an internationally celebrated architect from Mexico. In an interview with Erin Tallman of Archiexpo, Canales describes the effect of achieving international recognition, including gaining status as an...

These days, if ‘unknown caller’ appears on your phone, no amount of curiousity is likely to overcome the risks of answering. It’s bound to be a scam of some...

OMG, you're so old you don't even know what OMG means! That's a comment that might well be made at an editorial meeting of affordablehousingaction.org — not exactly important...

For those unfamiliar with Kwajo Tweneboa, (likely because you reside outside the United Kingdom), this young man has committed another act of social heroism, relating once again a story...

Morning constitutionals at affordablehousingaction.org occur often and usually take place among houses in a leafy neighbourhood. A fair number of churches dapple this leafy neighbourhood, and many have not...

The concept of brownfields is useful. The idea of an industrial landscape that has outlived its usefulness deserves a name. Brownfields, with its suggestion of rusting metal fills the...

Why do we make it so hard to avoid homelessness when we've done time and served out a sentence? The article linked below is written by C.L. Michel, who draws...

It would be nice to always snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but sometimes we just have to make the most of grabbing a useful defeat from what...

In 2022, people at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) had an epiphany. Their signature annual publication, The State of the Nation's Housing, was issuing a consistent...

If Shakespeare lived in a modern multimedia universe and wrote about extreme poverty instead of kings, would a part of his work product look anything like "Sandwiches?" Sandwiches is one of...

Worldwide, this year has brought Spain into focus as a country suffering from a housing imbalance caused by tourism. This post is NOT principally about that story — a...

More than year ago, the UK's Prince of Wales discussed his special interest in ending homelessnessTry: Prince William: The Next Proud Meddler In United Kingdom Politics? . His Homewards...

Topsy was a pre-teen orphan, a slave girl, who featured in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin. When asked where she came from, she insisted that she didn't...

Apartheid in South Africa officially ended 30 years ago. Even though the country's constitution confirms that all citizens have a right to adequate housing, cities are still physically divided...

Shelterforce is a U.S. based publication that began in 1975 as a way for tenant organizers to work together and learn from each other. The mandate has broadened, but...

What price shelter? It sure as heck doesn't come free. Whether you rent or own what many countries in the world see adequate shelter as an basic human right,...

Meet latch, a housing provider in England that supports people who are struggling. Latch helps out by charging low rents and supporting people to meet the challenges of daily...

Perth, the largest city in Western Australia, acts professionally toward people who are homeless. There is no grab by the scruff of the neck and transport to the city...

The demands and destruction of World War II led to a postwar social housing era that placed expediency and affordability ahead of graceful architectural objectives. The result: massive postwar...

Two of the world's most populous English language nations are in denial over their worker shortagew. That makes it a remarkable event when one of their lawmakers stands up,...

Recent good news for the comfortably housed in Singapore, with its world class housing care for its population. After 35 years(!) of trying, residents will be allowed to house...

THE Peasant's Revolt is world famous — at least in the English Language world. It occurred in the 14th century and was modestly successful in extracting concessions from the...

Research in the United States has been connecting safe, stable affordable housing with health care. This post is the final in a short series about how the research is...

Research in the United States has been connecting safe, stable affordable housing with health care. This post is the second in a short series about how the research is...

When Singapore declared independence from Maylaysia in 1965, planning was under way for the creation of the best social housing in the world. The planning panned out. Today nearly...

A collection of residents in Ontario, Canada, have been meeting to discuss how public policies and programs could end homelessness and make housing more affordable. The group includes people...

In the 1990's, Aileen McDonnell graduated with a Master's Degree in Housing Management and Construction. She was the only woman in her class, but that wasn't the only way...

Have you found yourself studying a sleek motor home that has appeared in your field of view? Are you tantalized, imagining yourself in the cozy comfort of a home...

Council housing estates in the United Kingdom have been portrayed in the media as dangerous and unlawful spaces. On the strength of this picture, government leaders have approved the...

So how does a local government become an expert in managing homelessness, a problem that has been ignored for too long? Invest in salesmanship that something is being done when...

If you really want to understand how an entire nation tolerates being buried in shit, play a little catch-up with United Kingdom's current 'progress'. Buying into the 'neoliberal' political...

What helpful advice could you give to a young black adult who had experienced homelessness when young, been raised in a difficult relationship by a single mother, while his...

It's gardening season in the northern hemisphere. In Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Mosaic Community Land Trust is hosting community garden plots on four lots in the city. Here are a few features...

Unhoused, or in danger of becoming so? What are you at risk of losing? Some things are perfectly obvious: for example, a waterproof roof you can call your own. Not...

When it comes to building affordable housing, People at New Jersey's Fair Share Housing Center (the Center) are feeling fairly confident that New Jersey is a state to emulate. The...

At affordablehousingaction.org, we often read that experience of homelessness should guide policy and program design. The article linked to this post delivers advice for the UK's refugee system, based...

Turns out that in New York City at least, there is no need to educate the people who operate homeless shelters about the health benefits of accommodating pets along...

Standing in front of parliament buildings and singing is not usual response to an eviction notice. But that's what Martin Leahy did. Leahy plays guitar, sings and composes. When he...

A disabled pet, a homeless encampment, well-meaning animal rescue workers, an activist intervention, an overwhelmed new pet owner. Result: two deaths to date, one by euthanasia. These events are...

Canada is facing a shortage of construction workers. There are many young people in Canada who need work. And as Michael Braithwaite knows only too well, many people are...

Some, many, American citizens are sorry they cannot give their fellow citizens a precious gift of housing. The U.S. Constitution, alas, did not sanction such an honour for all...

When the UN's special rapporteur on housing published a report about housing in the Netherlands, he was clear that problems facing the country were the result of policy choices...

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reckons that 3.8 million people in the United Kingdom face destitution. Universal Credit, the country's social safety net, doesn't provide enough to cover basic needs....

Memphis Tennessee has figured out a nifty way to help their residents with low incomes pay for essential home repairs. All monthly power bills are rounded up to the...

In 2021, Thea Kurdi made a presentation to students at the University of Waterloo’s School of ArchitectureThe presentation was timely then because Canada had passed the Accessible Canada Act...

Housing? 'Not our problem.' That's increasingly an employer's answer in many countries today. Prospective employers find it profitable to put housing responsibilities on the shoulders of their employees. But what happens...

Folklore makes 'sneakers' into American running shoes. It can take considerably more than a few steps in a pair to make an immigrant into an American citizen. Part of that...

If your first language is English, you may be satisfied that the true peasant's revolt — the Peasants' Revolt — happened in England in the 14th centuryWikipedia offers a...

The third in three-post series explores how we as humans come to grips with social issues. The series started in Australia, where cost-benefit analysis has been applied to two...

The second in three-post series explores how we as humans come to grips with social issues. The series starts in Australia, where cost-benefit analysis has been applied to two...

A three-post series explores how we as humans come to grips with social issues. The setting is Australia, where cost-benefit analysis has been applied to two different issues. This...

When a real estate agent applied for a job as a housing advocate at Neighbors Together, a community non-profit in Brooklyn, alarm bells went off. Many of the people who...

Where to find answers the question posed in the headline above? If we were to depend on a 'scientific' approach to the answer, we might be waiting a long...

A quagmire is the word one authority uses to describe the process to access publicly funded supports that are due to Indigenous people with diverse abilities. Failing to navigate...

The article linked to this post is about Finland's remarkable achievement in reducing homelessness. The success lies in its country-wide adoption of Housing First, an evidence-based program to end...

The minimum wage has just risen in the UKYou can read more about this in Positive News: What went right this week: the good news you should know about....

Meet Ron and Kelly. Affordablehousingaction.org can make this introduction thanks to the fine work of Steve McKenzie, a portrait photographer. Steve's portraits come with notes: 'Ron and Kelly were sitting...

Meet John and his cat. Affordablehousingaction.org can make this introduction thanks to the fine work of Steve McKenzie, a portrait photographer. Steve's portraits come with notes: I've met John before....

Hospitals have discovered that there is more to the cost of demolishing houses than the demolition and disposal feeTry: Urban Redevelopment: A Case Of Failing To See Who’s There...

Reading the article attached to this post might put you in mind of banging your head against a brick wall. The article is about a project to calculate mortality rates...

Meet Rod. Affordablehousingaction.org can make this introduction thanks to the fine work of Steve McKenzie, a portrait photographer. Steve's portraits come with notes: "I met Rod just south of Wacker...

Meet Willie. Affordablehousingaction.org can make this introduction thanks to the fine work of Steve McKenzie, a portrait photographer. Steve's portraits come with notes: Steve: '"Can I please have a blessing?"...

City councils bring their own values and concerns to their decision-making. When it comes to the homeless, do those values, well-meaning or no, tend to mirror the opinions of...

The Housing Diversity Network was founded in 2002 with a mission of supporting racial diversity. The Network supports organizations in England that want their board and staff teams to...

Meet Ronnie. Affordablehousingaction.org can make this introduction thanks to the fine work of Steve McKenzie, a portrait photographer. Steve's portraits come with notes: "Ronnie was on Michigan Avenue near Nordstrom's,...