Matthew Brian Hersh
Matthew Brian Hersh is senior editor at Shelterforce. E-mail Matthew at mhersh (at) nhi (dot) org.
ARTICLES IN SHELTERFORCE since jan 08
- Organizing for Inclusive TOD
Large-scale and small-scale transit-oriented development projects are popping up everywhere around the country, and in many places advocates are working to include affordable housing and other community priorities in the mix from the start.
- Taking Foreclosures to Task
All across the country, local governments, CDCs, community groups, and housing counselors are coming together to address the foreclosure crisis.
- PETRA, and What It Means for the “Public” in “Public Housing”
- The (Not So) Sudden Push Against New Jerseys Fair Share Affordable Housing Policy
Pressure has been building for a long time against the red tape and inflexibility of the agency that implements New Jerseys landmark fair share housing policy. Can the spirit of Mount Laurel survive the backlash against the details?
- HUD’s New Team
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama administration is equipped with an impressive list of housing experts at the top.
- Heard and Not Forgotten
What started out as a “weird art project” in Toronto is
providing aural illustrations into a northern New Jersey community’s past, and, organizers hope, laying the groundwork for the future. - George Moses: Organizing by Necessity
Shelterforce interviews George Moses, chairman of the board of the National Low Income Housing Coalition
- Right on Target: Reaching New Heights In DC
Vacant land gives way to residential and commercial development is a classic urban renewal storyline, but DC’s Columbia Heights is getting more than just retail and residential: its reclaiming its history.
- The Stimulus: Making Sense of it All
Between HARP, TARP, HERA, ARRA, TALF, NSP 1, NSP 2 and the rest of the alphabet soup of stimulus funding, there’s a lot of government money circulating around the country right now. How are communities using this money, and will the stimulus provide the springboard needed for equitable, sustainable change?
- Publisher’s Note
- Operation Neighborhood Recovery
Urban Essex County, New Jersey, one of the hardest hit areas in the state by the ongoing foreclosure crisis, could be the laboratory for a reinvention of community development. A local CDC there has completed the successful acquisition, by way of an alliance of nonprofits, of 47 mortgages expected to foreclose with an eye toward stabilizing neighborhoods in some of the oldest suburban communities in New Jersey.
- Great Falls And The Silk City
New Jersey’s Paterson is the nation’s oldest planned industrial city—depend on who you ask. But it has fallen on hard times since the once-booming silk industry there declined in the latter half of the 20th century. Much of the industry in this city of 150,000 has since left, but with the help of a local CDC there, as well as corporate and community partners, a geological attraction once envisioned by Alexander Hamilton as something that could be harnessed for industrial might, is fully protected, and being prepared for a makeover.
- Operation Neighborhood Recovery and the Future of Community Development
Urban Essex County, New Jersey, one of the hardest hit areas in the state by the ongoing foreclosure crisis, could be the laboratory for an ostensible reinvention of community development, as a local CDC there announced today the successful acquisition of 47 mortgages on troubled properties with an eye toward stabilizing neighborhoods in some of the oldest suburban communities in New Jersey.
- For Brooklyn’s Starrett City, Affordability is Binding
- Trading Bullets for a Better Future
Youth violence scars lives, turning America’s streets into war zones. How do we transform killing fields into training grounds for stronger communities?
- The Green New Deal
Majora Carter saw natural beauty and economic empowerment in her South Bronx neighborhood where others saw only a dumping ground. She’s changing the urban landscape in a way that’s been an eye-opener to people around the globe.
POSTS ON ROOFLINES
- 3 Feb 12 · New York AG Sues Banks Over MERS
- 1 Feb 12 · White House Announces Refi Aid
- 30 Jan 12 · HAMP Modification to Include Principal Writedowns
- 27 Jan 12 · Gallup: U.S. Wants Government to Help Fix the Housing Market
- 27 Jan 12 · Mortgage Task Force Moves Quickly as AG Settlement Resurfaces
- 25 Jan 12 · Schneiderman’s Role in Financial Crimes Unit Is Welcome News
- 23 Jan 12 · Too Many Bargains With Pending Foreclosure Settlement, Advocates Worry
- 20 Jan 12 · A First Look at Real CFPB Authority
- 16 Jan 12 · In Case You Missed It: Can Lease Purchase Save Us?
- 10 Jan 12 · Waiting for Details: NJ’s Foreclosure Relief Corp.
- 27 Dec 11 · The New Bottom Line: A Coalition Built to Last
- 23 Dec 11 · Do As I Say, Not (Necessarily) As I Do
- 22 Dec 11 · BPC’s Housing Commission Sounds Promising…
- 21 Dec 11 · Cleveland Has a Foreclosure Problem?
- 20 Dec 11 · Occupy Giving Organizers a “Shot in the Arm”
- 12 Dec 11 · “When Houses Become Widgets”
- 6 Dec 11 · Does the Current Reliance on Credit Scores Deny Deserving Applicants?
- 6 Dec 11 · Occupy Our Homes
- 29 Nov 11 · Can Nonprofits Use Volunteerism to Achieve a Sustained Increase in Capacity?
- 22 Nov 11 · Criminalizing Homelessness
- 22 Nov 11 · Will the Occupy Wall Street Crackdowns Energize or Deflate the Movement?
- 15 Nov 11 · Do You Incorporate Green Building Principles Into Your Development Work?
- 13 Nov 11 · Bringing the Occupy Movement to the Community
- 11 Nov 11 · Ending Veteran Homelessness
- 10 Nov 11 · Is Homelessness an Occupy Wall Street Issue?
- 8 Nov 11 · Is It Important to Save the 30-year Fixed-Rate Mortgage?
- 1 Nov 11 · What are your thoughts on proposed changes to HARP to help out underwater borrowers?
- 25 Oct 11 · Politics the Wellstone Way
- 25 Oct 11 · Have you participated in any bank accountability/economic justice demonstrations?
- 18 Oct 11 · How do you feel about the proposed QRM rule that would exempt banks from retaining risk on mortgages
- 13 Oct 11 · Challenging Markets, Innovative Financing
- 11 Oct 11 · 10-5-11 Poll: Should nonprofits manage scattered site rentals?
- 29 Sep 11 · 9-28-11 Poll: How do conflicting market data affect your neighborhood stabilization efforts?
- 27 Sep 11 · 9-21-11 Poll: How will federal budget cuts affect your work?
- 7 Sep 11 · Stops For Us
- 24 Aug 11 · Bringing the CLT Home
- 18 Aug 11 · Candidate (and Tenant) Perry’s Housing Record
- 17 Aug 11 · FHLBanks’ Affordable Housing Progam Can Be a Model for Economic Development Funding
- 15 Aug 11 · CDCs Step In Where Banks Fear to Tread
- 11 Aug 11 · CLTs as an Economic Development Tool?
- 10 Aug 11 · Conrad Egan
- 27 Jul 11 · Looking Ahead: Shelterforce’s 36th Anniversary Issue
- 13 Jul 11 · House Subcommittee Votes to Eliminate Housing Trust Fund
- 29 Jun 11 · New York’s Rent Laws Extended, But at What Cost?
- 14 Jun 11 · En Mass.: CDCs Generate $1B in Economic Investment from ‘07 to ‘10
- 9 Jun 11 · Million Dollar Wasteland? Responses to HOME Investigation
- 6 Jun 11 · State of the Nation’s Housing: 2011
- 31 May 11 · Making HAMP Achievable
- 16 May 11 · With Cuts in Housing Counseling Funds, It’s Wait and See
- 5 May 11 · Budget Cuts and Homeless Veterans
- 4 May 11 · Bostic on Green Finance: Investing in Sustainable Outcomes
- 3 May 11 · NLIHC Report: Rental Homes Remain Out of Reach
- 27 Apr 11 · Twin Cities’ Central Corridor Light Rail Gets a Big Boost
- 26 Apr 11 · Can’t Offer Housing Counseling Without the Funding
- 25 Apr 11 · Benton Harbor and the Continued Golf Course Wars
- 21 Apr 11 · “The Fight Continues.”
- 19 Apr 11 · “Better Ideas to Help Our Community”
- 18 Apr 11 · Mitigating the Impacts of the Current Foreclosure Crisis
- 18 Apr 11 · NCRC: Why Were You There?
- 15 Apr 11 · Perez: Inclusionary Zoning Can Work, If Implemented
- 15 Apr 11 · The Future of Mortgage Finance
- 15 Apr 11 · Organizing as a Culture
- 14 Apr 11 · A Steep Climb Up The Hill
- 14 Apr 11 · Bair: Mortgage Crisis Shows We Need a Level Playing Field
- 12 Apr 11 · April Is Fair Housing Month
- 17 Mar 11 · House Votes Down NSP3
- 15 Mar 11 · FHA Commissioner Stevens Heading to MBA
- 10 Mar 11 · Fed Report: No Wrongful Foreclosures By Banks?
- 8 Mar 11 · Private Sector Funding in Public Housing Would Require a “Compromise” in Quality
- 7 Mar 11 · Bank Protests and Making Wall Street Pay
- 7 Mar 11 · The Suburban Frontier Won’t Provide the Answers
- 4 Mar 11 · Preserving Communities: Live From New Jersey Future
- 23 Feb 11 · Losing CDGB Funds: Dakota County, Minn.
- 22 Feb 11 · Today’s Mortgage Market: Take a Picture and Frame It
- 22 Feb 11 · Defending the Union
- 17 Feb 11 · Losing CDBG Funds
- 9 Feb 11 · Beyond the Cover Lines: Affordable Housing & TOD
- 7 Feb 11 · A Continued Sense of Place in the South Bronx
- 15 Dec 10 · Losing Post Offices, Storefronts, and How We Respond
- 13 Dec 10 · Forcing Banks to Buy Back Loans
- 2 Dec 10 · Urban Ag: We’re Planning On It
- 19 Nov 10 · ACORN’s Legacy Is Anything But “In Brief”
- 9 Nov 10 · Amending NJ’s Affordable Housing Law
- 5 Nov 10 · Affordable Housing Has Mass. Appeal
- 2 Nov 10 · Massachusetts’s Affordable Housing Law
- 26 Oct 10 · Remembering Sen. Wellstone
- 21 Oct 10 · Community Development: A Love Story
- 22 Sep 10 · Saving a Landmark in the Bronx
- 20 Sep 10 · Walking Away Becoming Less Taboo
- 8 Sep 10 · HUD Announces NSP3
- 1 Sep 10 · Streaming Live: The Fed’s REO and Vacant Property Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization
- 24 Aug 10 · What? No Investment Opportunity?
- 15 Jul 10 · Senate Passes Financial Reform; NSP 3 Included
- 30 Jun 10 · Walkability Dictates Severity of Housing Decline
- 24 Jun 10 · HAMP Takes a Licking
- 17 Jun 10 · Some Relief in the Gulf for Homeowners
- 10 Jun 10 · Strategic Default Can Make Sense, Right? Well, Not So Fast
- 27 May 10 · Sustainability: Still a Novel Idea
- 25 May 10 · Not Just Affordable Housing, but Connections to Neighborhoods
- 20 May 10 · Ford Foundation Announces Five-Year, $200M Metro Program
- 18 May 10 · HAMP Moving Along Slowly
- 13 May 10 · HUD’s New Plan
- 7 May 10 · Adolfo Carrión: We Hardly Knew You! (In This Capacity)
- 22 Apr 10 · Report Shows Growing Gap Between Income and Rent
- 21 Apr 10 · Low Income Housing Group to Release New Housing Wage Data
- 15 Apr 10 · Viewing Housing Within a Context
- 14 Apr 10 · Bostic: HUD’s PD&R Was “Stagnant” In Recent Years
- 13 Apr 10 · Maintaining Tenant Input
- 13 Apr 10 · First, Some Perspective
- 13 Apr 10 · In Supporting Financial Protection Bureau, Merkley Looks Back
- 13 Apr 10 · The Case for New Vouchers
- 7 Apr 10 · Census 2010: Stand Up and Be Counted! (Or Not)
- 24 Mar 10 · Fed to Congress: We Don’t Want That Responsibility!
- 23 Mar 10 · Finally Moving Toward Principal Reduction?
- 22 Mar 10 · ACORN Facing Significant Problems
- 18 Mar 10 · Be Counted: Fill Out the Census
- 15 Mar 10 · Taylor: Establish Meaningful Consumer Protections
- 12 Mar 10 · Invest In Your Values
- 11 Mar 10 · A New Turn for the Consumer Financial Protection Bill
- 11 Mar 10 · CRA Bill Getting a Hearing
- 11 Mar 10 · Trasvińa Hints at a Fairer Housing Act; Principal Reduction in Store?
- 11 Mar 10 · NCRC’s Keys From the Crisis Initiative
- 11 Mar 10 · Day 2 at NCRC’s 2010 National Convention
- 10 Mar 10 · Going Where the Big Boats Are
- 10 Mar 10 · Getting Through the Storm
- 8 Mar 10 · The Administration’s Short-Sale Program
- 4 Mar 10 · Redefining Detroit
- 1 Mar 10 · Making Home (Really) Affordable
- 26 Feb 10 · Housing, Transportation, and Workforce Development: A Coordinated Attack
- 26 Feb 10 · Rivlin, SEIU’s Stern, Picked for Debt Commission
- 12 Feb 10 · Cooper Village & Stuyvesant Town: Can’t Quite Walk Away
- 1 Feb 10 · Modifying the Modification Program (HAMP)
- 27 Jan 10 · The Risk In The System Starts to Come Home
- 26 Jan 10 · “Top Of The Pecking Order” for Housing Bubble Blowups
- 25 Jan 10 · Massive NYC Real Estate Deal Collapses
- 22 Jan 10 · Honor Thy Mortgage!
- 14 Jan 10 · HUD Announces NSP2 Grants
- 14 Jan 10 · NSP2 Announcement Coming Soon
- 12 Jan 10 · The Shadow (Inventory) Knows
- 12 Dec 09 · A Small Victory for ACORN?
- 11 Dec 09 · Houses Passes Wall Street Reform Bill; $1 Billion for NSP 3
- 19 Nov 09 · Homeowner, Meet Your Lender
- 17 Nov 09 · Stim Tracking: Let’s Get This Part Right
- 17 Nov 09 · “An Antiforeclosure Plan That Works”
- 13 Nov 09 · ACORN Turns Up The Volume
- 6 Nov 09 · The Right To Rent
- 2 Nov 09 · Housing: Code for Social, Economic, and Racial Integration
- 20 Oct 09 · Another Tired Argument Against ACORN
- 13 Oct 09 · Foreclosure Mitigation Plans Need Work and Need Work Now
- 6 Oct 09 · The “Real Threat” of ACORN
- 6 Oct 09 · If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now: A Cautionary TOD Tale
- 4 Oct 09 · IOC’s Rio Pick Could Be Good News for Chicago
- 30 Sep 09 · Rethinking Rentals
- 25 Sep 09 · ACORN and the Media
- 18 Sep 09 · Roasting a Fire Under ACORN
- 10 Sep 09 · NHC-led Task Force Eyes the Future of the Housing Finance System
- 9 Sep 09 · Van Jones: The Green House, Redux
- 26 Aug 09 · Lion of the Senate
- 12 Aug 09 · …At Your Own Risk
- 6 Aug 09 · Right Wing Taking Cues From Saul Alinsky?
- 31 Jul 09 · The Bicycle Mandate
- 15 Jul 09 · A Rental Option for Homeowners?
- 13 Jul 09 · Urban Policy: Just Getting Started
- 6 Jul 09 · Extra! Major Funding Is Provided By…Congress?
- 2 Jul 09 · Compost Bins on the South Lawn
- 29 Jun 09 · Tracking Job Creation in the Nonprofit Sector
- 18 Jun 09 · Tracking the Recession and the Recovery
- 9 Jun 09 · Seriously Commuting
- 8 Jun 09 · HUD Wants $150M For “Geography of Opportunity”
- 4 Jun 09 · Growing The Community Development Vision
- 4 Jun 09 · TARP for Community Development?
- 4 Jun 09 · Social Innovation and Civic Participation
- 4 Jun 09 · Keep It Local
- 2 Jun 09 · A Squatter’s Discourse
- 22 May 09 · Beware the Myth
- 19 May 09 · What Can 35.5 MPG Change?
- 15 May 09 · I Want to Ride My Bicyle. I Want to Ride It Where I Like
- 4 May 09 · Affordable Housing In Urban Centers Not Enough
- 29 Apr 09 · History of the Housing Market
- 23 Apr 09 · Flint: The Un-Sprawl
- 21 Apr 09 · Donovan Touts Administration’s Housing Policies, Though Acknowledges “Daunting Set of Challenges”
- 17 Apr 09 · Rail Time Enthusiasm
- 15 Apr 09 · How Much Bailout Money Did Your Bank Get?
- 13 Apr 09 · Gonzo Realty
- 10 Apr 09 · Banks Sitting on Foreclosed Homes
- 8 Apr 09 · Foreclosure Holiday at Fan & Fred Comes to an End
- 7 Apr 09 · Great Falls And The Silk City
- 2 Apr 09 · Ease Guidelines=Market Rally
- 2 Apr 09 · Modern Community Development for a Modern Crisis
- 31 Mar 09 · A Rail Line Toward Community Development
- 25 Mar 09 · Read All About It…While You Can
- 24 Mar 09 · National Train Day (Trainiacs Unite!)
- 20 Mar 09 · Going Mainstream With the Obama Vegetable Garden
- 18 Mar 09 · Just Because His Sleeves Are Rolled Up, It Doesn’t Mean He Means Business
- 16 Mar 09 · NLIHC Budget Chart Outlines HUD Appropriations
- 13 Mar 09 · Donovan Eyes Change to Mortgage Credit System; Bringing HUD to the Forefront
- 12 Mar 09 · Rep. Frank Promises an “Improved” Subprime Bill
- 10 Mar 09 · NJ’s COAH: Finding Common (and Vacant) Ground
- 9 Mar 09 · ACORN’s Home Defenders
- 6 Mar 09 · Blog-Heavy, Link-Heavy, (and Some) Breaking News
- 6 Mar 09 · New Regulations for Loan Modification and Refinance
- 5 Mar 09 · Finally Touching That Third Rail?
- 5 Mar 09 · Making a Profit on the Shards of a Glass Bubble
- 3 Mar 09 · “Ethical Lenders” Employ a Tried and True Method: Long-term, Fixed-rate Loans
- 26 Feb 09 · Who’s Going to Report the News?
- 25 Feb 09 · Rethinking Home Mortgage Deductions
- 19 Feb 09 · Does Obama’s Plan Go Far Enough?
- 18 Feb 09 · Obama’s Foreclosure Plan: Just the Facts
- 11 Feb 09 · Task Force Calls for $4 Billion in NSP Funding
- 10 Feb 09 · The Financial Stability Plan
- 8 Feb 09 · Latest Simulus Bill Draft
- 6 Feb 09 · NSP Funding Gets “Compromised”
- 5 Feb 09 · The Stimulus Package and Smart Growth
- 3 Feb 09 · Let’s Get Serious Here
- 3 Feb 09 · Vacant Storefronts: They’re Not Just For Ghost Towns Anymore
- 26 Jan 09 · A Sobering Economic Roundup
- 21 Jan 09 · Watching History On The Big Screen
- 17 Jan 09 · All Aboard, America
- 14 Jan 09 · Tough Economy, Slashed Services
- 11 Jan 09 · The Great Detroit Charrette?
- 7 Jan 09 · Yes, Virginia, There Is A City Planner
- 23 Dec 08 · The Felt Factor
- 16 Dec 08 · Remaking HUD
- 11 Dec 08 · Questioning the Bailout
- 29 Nov 08 · Food Banks: Another Crisis Casualty?
- 22 Nov 08 · Talk About Aging In Place…
- 20 Nov 08 · Gloomy Outlook for Nonprofits
- 17 Nov 08 · What We Talk About When We Talk About…Voting Machines
- 11 Nov 08 · The Urban (Policy) President?
- 8 Nov 08 · Bagging the Big Apple
- 30 Oct 08 · DOJ Passes on Ohio
- 28 Oct 08 · It’s The Great Election, Charlie Brown
- 22 Oct 08 · The “What If” Scenario
- 15 Oct 08 · In the Nation’s Service
- 15 Oct 08 · Affordable Housing and the Financial Crisis
- 14 Oct 08 · Not Your Clinton’s Foreclosure Holiday
- 14 Oct 08 · McCain Hearts ACORN
- 9 Oct 08 · Mortgage Buyout Plan Changes by the Hour
- 6 Oct 08 · Got a House? Cast Your Vote.
- 3 Oct 08 · House Passes Bailout: Let The Market Soar!
- 26 Sep 08 · DOJ Keeps An Eye On Michigan
- 25 Sep 08 · Will Financial Crisis Lead to Hard Times for Nonprofits?
- 22 Sep 08 · Affordable Housing as an “Unfunded Mandate”
- 18 Sep 08 · Discouraging the Voter
- 11 Sep 08 · Is It Just a Foreclosure Holiday?
- 10 Sep 08 · What Do You Make of the Fannie/Freddie Takeover?
- 4 Sep 08 · Organizing a Counterattack
- 23 Aug 08 · Obama-Biden: What Does It Mean?
- 21 Aug 08 · Wait: How Many Houses DO I Have?
- 4 Aug 08 · With Rising Property Taxes, Should Non-Profits Now Pay Their “Fair Share”?
- 30 Jul 08 · The Mess In Texas (Houston: We Have a Recycling Problem)
- 23 Jul 08 · The Wave that Follows The Atlantic
- 21 Jul 08 · It’s an Affordable Housing Victory, But How Do We Win Over the Towns?
- 11 Jul 08 · Rangel’s Wrangle with Rent Control
- 8 Jul 08 · In New Jersey’s Hub City, A Push to Change Government Gets Big Government Resistance
- 1 Jul 08 · The COAH Bluff, the Midas Touch, and New Jersey’s Fight for Affordable Housing
- 25 Jun 08 · One Candidate Drops Out of Public Finance, Another Wishes He Could
- 20 Jun 08 · Sounding the Death Knell for Public Financing, Or a New Era of Grass-roots Fund-Raising?
- 19 Jun 08 · A Big Easy Comparison, But How Similar?
- 19 Jun 08 · Crackdown Rocks Real-Estate Industry
- 15 Jun 08 · The Russert Factor
- 12 Jun 08 · So It’s Come to This?
- 10 Jun 08 · Awarded for Smart Growth
- 3 Jun 08 · It’s Your Moment Sen. Obama (It’s Ours, Too)
- 27 May 08 · “Let’s Refuel America”
- 22 May 08 · Sustainability’s Bottom Line
- 17 May 08 · The Garden State Has a Tell, and Towns Are Calling the Bluff
- 13 May 08 · Could High Gas Prices Have Positive Side Effects?

National Housing Institute