housing

Interviews

Reinventing Segregation in Northern California: An Interview with Alex Schafran

Alex Schafran & Darian Razdar - 14 May 2019

Darian Razdar interviews Alex Schafran about his new book Road to Resegregation: Northern California and the...

Debates

The Limits of the Accepted Orthodoxy on Rent Control

Loïc Bonneval & François Robert & translated by Oliver Waine - 22 March 2019

In response to a recent critique of their work, Loïc Bonneval and François Robert defend their method and results. In...

Debates

The Damage Inflicted by French Rent Controls between 1914 and 1948

Robert C. Ellickson & David Le Bris - 26 February 2019

In an essay in Metropolitics, Loïc Bonneval questioned the consensus among economists that strict rent controls have...

Debates

Does Rent Control Prevent Investment in Real Estate?

Loïc Bonneval & translated by Oliver Waine - 8 February 2019

While rent-control measures kept private rental housing in France affordable for much of the 20th century, it has...

Essays

Organizing Against Projet Gentrification: Housing Activism in a White-Supremacist Landscape in Montreal

Pierce Nettling - 27 November 2018

Housing activists in Montreal and Quebec have successfully sought to secure tenant rights and social housing for...

From the Field

When Progressive Mayors Aren’t Enough: Homes for All and Trans-Local Social Movements

H. Jacob Carlson & Marnie Brady & Gianpaolo Baiocchi - 13 November 2018

Progressive governments are often pulled away from their campaign promises by local growth-coalition interests or...

Debates

Deafening Discord: Reclaiming Residents’ Anger in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Pierre Chabard & translated by Oliver Waine - 26 October 2018

We recently published an article showing how, in Roubaix in northern France, elected officials took steps to...

From the Field

Killing Them Softly: The Environmental Vulnerability of Black Women in Albany, New York

Tanesha A. Thomas - 23 October 2018

In Albany’s South End, a predominantly low-income African-American neighborhood, tanks storing environmentally...

Debates

Silent Suppression: How Local Politicians Stifle Collective Action in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Julien Talpin & translated by Oliver Waine - 19 October 2018

Taking as its starting point a study of a neighborhood roundtable in the northern French city of Roubaix, this...

Reviews

Photographing the Slums of 1900s Berlin

Danièle Voldman & translated by Oliver Waine - 14 September 2018

At the turn of the 20th century, the dramatically poor conditions of urban working-class housing was a cause of...

From the Field

The Cost of Affordability: Inclusionary Zoning and Displacement in East New York

James Shelton - 20 March 2018

What are the impacts of New York City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program upon low-income communities of color?...

Debates

Storm Recovery: Local Efforts, Municipal Constraints, and New Ways Forward

Michael P. McCabe - 28 November 2017

Climate change-induced storm surges and rising sea levels will steadily cause more damage to homes in low-lying...

From the Field

Snowbirds’ Gift Economy in the Arizona Desert

David Frati - 7 November 2017

Each year, 200,000 retired people spend the winter in and around the small town of Quartzsite, Arizona, in the...

Essays

Urban Shrinkage in France: An Invisible Issue?

Rémi Dormois & Sylvie Fol & translated by Oliver Waine - 13 September 2017

Although the phenomenon of urban shrinkage affects a significant number of French towns and cities, it is an issue...

From the Field

The Actually Existing Markets of Shrinking Cities

Joshua Akers - 18 April 2017

In a bid to halt urban decline, Michigan’s state government sought to create incentives for the creation of urban...

From the Field

The Ongoing Housing Crisis and the Rust Belt Revolt for the GOP

Elora Lee Raymond - 13 January 2017

In response to a tense post-election moment in the US, the Metropolitics editorial committee has initiated...

From the Field

Contesting Economies of Displacement and Dispossession

Joshua Akers - 13 January 2017

Joshua Akers describes Detroit’s housing crisis, characterized by speculation, displacement, and increasingly...

Debates

On Our Own: Protecting and Developing Social Housing in the Trump Era

John Krinsky - 13 January 2017

In response to a tense post-election moment in the US, the Metropolitics editorial committee has initiated...

Reviews

Evictions and Poverty

Hilary Botein - 28 June 2016

Matthew Desmond’s Evicted has drawn much-needed attention to the under-studied problem of unsubsidized rental...

Essays

The Wrecker’s Pick. The Rationales and Hidden Agendas of Urban Renewal in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Alain Faure & translated by Christina Mitrakos - 7 June 2016

Alain Faure, a scholar of the social history of cities, puts urban renewal into perspective. He questions the...

Reviews

Neighborhood Change and the Right to the City

Adam Tanaka - 29 March 2016

New York City’s Stuyvesant Town is the largest housing development in Manhattan, and also one of the most...

Reviews

Dawn of the Indebted: Zombie Neoliberalism Hits the Big Screen

Desiree Fields & Tom Gillespie - 8 March 2016

As the tremors of the 2008 crumbling US housing market were felt around the world, even the most astute couldn’t...

From the Field

How Children Cope When Home is a Hotel

Erwan Le Méner & translated by Christina Mitrakos - 5 February 2016

Emergency housing in social hotels is affecting a growing number of families in the Paris region. How does this...

From the Field

Federal Anti-Segregation Milestones Demand Local Mobilization

Justin Steil - 24 November 2015

In June 2015, the US Supreme Court affirmed a legal tool that stands to hold municipalities and lenders accountable...

Debates

To Prevent Worsening Inequality, Put Affluent Neighborhoods on NYC Rezoning List

Moses Gates - 17 November 2015

Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning is meant to boost the affordable housing supply and create more economically...

Essays

The “Dozois Plan”: lessons learned from urban-renewal policies and the history of urban planning in Montreal

Frédéric Mercure-Jolette & translated by Oliver Waine - 23 October 2015

Urban-renewal policies justify their actions by decrying neighbourhoods earmarked for demolition. Frédéric...

Debates

Social housing in Africa: a model to be (re)invented?

Alexandra Biehler & Armelle Choplin & Marie Morelle & translated by Oliver Waine - 16 October 2015

While the question of housing for working-class populations remains a recurrent issue in sub‑Saharan African cities,...

Reviews

Good neighbours? Homeless people as seen by those who live alongside them

Marine Maurin & translated by Oliver Waine - 5 June 2015

Prejudices regarding the poorest in society die hard. Does living in proximity to some of these populations help...

Debates

Precarity and Gentrification: A Feedback Loop

Samuel Stein - 14 April 2015

How do rent hikes and labor precarity conspire to reinforce each other against tenants and workers? Samuel Stein...

From the Field

When Predator Becomes Prey: Rental Housing in Low-Income Minority Neighborhoods

Clément Théry - 2 February 2015

In the growing low-income rental market, predator and prey roles can shift, as landlords and tenants alike can fall...

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