Shelterforce #162 -- Summer 2010 -- National Housing Institute

cover story

Private Money, Public Housing: Will PETRA Work?

Before White House press secretary Robert Gibbs lashed out at the "professional left" in frustration over what the…

The Road to PETRA

From the early days of the public housing program in the 1930s to the present, vociferous opposition has resulted in a host of problems. Understanding the history can help put President Obama's PETRA program in context. · By Rachel G. Bratt

PETRA Perspectives: National Low-Income Housing Coalition

The National Low Income Housing Coalition wants to be able to support PETRA. We believe that Secretary Donovan… · By Sheila Crowley

PETRA Perspectives: National Alliance of HUD Tenants

NAHT recognizes some positive features of the PETRA proposal. We see value in at least some consolidation to… · By Michael Kane

PETRA Perspectives: National People's Action -- Housing Justice Campaign

We all know public housing needs radical transformation to survive. The system teeters on the verge of collapse:… · By Damaris Reyes, DeAngelo Bester, and Liz Ryan Murray

PETRA Perspectives: PolicyLink

America has invested in building and supporting housing for lower income people and vulnerable populations for decades. This… · By Radhika Fox and Kalima Rose

PETRA Perspectives: Congresswoman Maxine Waters

For eight years, I fought the Bush administration's repeated attempts to eliminate the nation's public housing stock. Under… · By Congresswoman Maxine Waters

Shelterforce Interview: Sandra Henriquez

HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Sandra Henriquez spoke with Shelterforce to discuss the administration’s Preservation, Enhancement, and Transformation of Rental Assistance initiative and address some of the concerns regarding PETRA’s push to allow public housing authorities to leverage private investments. · By Harold Simon & Matthew Brian Hersh

Does Public Housing Have a Future?

Everybody hates public housing, except the low-income people who live there and the people on the long waiting lists to get in. After years of neglect, the Obama administration wants to save public housing for future generations. Let's let them. · By Peter Dreier

The End of Public Housing

In written testimony submitted to the House Committee on Financial Services in May, excerpted here, a group of urban affairs academics argue that PETRA is nothing less than a formal divestment from public housing, worse than anything previous administrations have proposed.

Green Jobs with Roots

For the founders of Cleveland's Evergreen Coops, putting a handful of people to work at minimum wage isn't worth it. They are aiming at nothing less than a ground-up economic transformation -- one owned by the very people it's intended to help. · By Miriam Axel-Lute
Taking Foreclosures to Task

All across the country, local governments, CDCs, community groups, and housing counselors are coming together to address the foreclosure crisis. · By Matthew Brian Hersh
Sowing Seeds of Change: Q&A with John Atlas

Editors of sat down recently with John Atlas, NHI board president and author of Seeds of Change: The Story of ACORN, America's Most Controversial Antipoverty Community Organizing Group, to discuss the organization itself, as well as organizing on a national level, tensions between organizing and development, and lessons learned from the downfall of the once-powerful antipoverty organization. · By John Atlas
A Tale of Two Markets: Affordability and the State of the Nation’s Housing in 2010

For first-time homebuyers with good credit, stable employment, and savings for a down payment, buying a home is more affordable than it has been in decades. For everyone else, however, lower home prices have been a disaster. · By Daniel McCue
Tainted Loans: Fighting Toxic Mortgages in the Courts

It's not too late to treat toxic loans as the defective product they are. · By Ray Brescia