Organizations like the Gary Leif Navigation Center are providing housing services and support to those in need. The Gary Leif Navigation Center opened in the summer of 2022 and is a low-barrier shelter that provides 10 pods for individuals to sleep and store their belongings in. Due to increased need, plans are currently underway to expand the Center, adding an additional 30 beds.

In a hot housing market like Berkeley, CA, it can be hard for students to find affordable apartments. At the same time, spare rooms often sit unoccupied in the nearby homes of retired UC Berkeley faculty and affiliates. As one possible solution, a pilot program is testing out intergenerational living, pairing students with retirees who are willing to open up their homes at a discounted rate.

Community colleges have long catered to commuter students. But California's housing costs and traffic are putting pressure on the state's community colleges to add student housing. Eleven already have, and their growing wait lists are evidence of the high demand. Several others have big dorms planned. One study shows the big effect stable, affordable housing can have on a community-college student's academic success.

The housing and homelessness nonprofit Community Solutions raised $135 million in private capital to create a fund to buy housing properties and keep them permanently affordable. It promises investors modest returns and looks to buy properties in good condition close to necessary services like grocery stores and health care.

In 1975, community members organized to urge the New Jersey state government to require cities to build their fair share of affordable multifamily housing. Dubbed “The Mount Laurel Doctrine,” the legislation, backed by local advocacy groups, has helped build 20,000 affordable housing units.

A state-led program in Pennsylvania matches homeowners willing to rent out space in their house with renters who need affordable housing. The initiative is also focused on allowing seniors to stay in their homes and communities longer, so one of the parties is always over 60 years old.

The Community Receiver Program works with real estate professionals of color to rehabilitate vacant and foreclosed properties. These properties are then resold to local homebuyers — to preserve generational wealth — or rented out at affordable rates. The program trains people to be community receivers for free, teaching them how to acquire and rehabilitate the buildings, as well as how to leverage grants and local funding programs. Since 2020, the Program has trained about 520 people, rehabilitated 16 buildings and contributed about $4.5 million in restored property value.

Mandatory inclusionary zoning policies have increased affordable housing stock in many cities across the U.S. In most cases, the policies require developers build 5-10% of new units with rents attainable for low- to median-income people, or pay a fee, which is dedicated to other affordable housing projects. In Redmond, Washington, such policy has resulted in a 42% growth of housing stock since 2010.

LuMin, a Lutheran ministry organization, provides subsidized rooms to college students struggling with housing insecurity. Though the program can only accommodate a fraction of applicants, students who have received housing say it has enabled them to focus on their studies rather than on making ends meet.

Brilliant Corners helps vulnerable, low-income individuals secure housing by working with other local organizations, including the Flexible Housing Subsidy Poll, which helps match people with suitable housing options. Brilliant Corners has helped about 13,000 people get into permanent housing and can cover over $10 million in rent subsidies every month.

The “Lodging to Living Fund” at Saul Urban identifies vacant or problematic commercial properties — like old hotels — acquires them and converts them into affordable housing. Repurposing existing buildings cuts project costs in half, allowing developers to offer affordable rates to renters. The Heights at Gateway Park is the first such project and has converted 180 hotel rooms into 88 new apartments.

Through a land trust, Community Partners in Affordable Housing sells homes to buyers at a fixed cost while maintaining ownership of the land they’re built on, allowing those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford market rate housing to become homeowners. Some of the homes are even built by high school students enrolled in a local Geometry in Construction program.

Two Texas-based companies are 3D printing homes in an effort to combat the housing crisis and produce fewer emissions than a typical home construction. The companies lay the foundation and rebar for support. Then, a machine with a robotic arm builds up the walls by printing layers of a cement-like material.

Developers and government officials are turning to a slew of different methods to address the affordable housing shortage in Sacramento, California. They’re developing micro apartments that are less than 500 square feet and allowing homeowners to build accessory dwelling units on their land, for example.

The Housing Helps program in the popular tourist town of Breckenridge, Colorado, provides homeowners, buyers, and businesses providing housing for their employees with funding for repairs, assessments, and down payments. The program aims to support home preservation and supply more affordable housing for locals.

KC Tenants is a tenant union that connects renters to put pressure on landlords and local government to protect tenant rights. With the help of the group’s political arm, KC Tenants Power, they have blocked thousands of evictions, received millions of dollars in funding to secure affordable housing for those in need and have grown to about 10,000 members. Outside of blocking evictions and securing long-term affordable housing, the group also has four members who won City Council seats.

The affordable housing crisis in Eagle, Colorado, is creating a severe staff shortage in local schools. So, the school district is partnering with organizations and developers like Habitat for Humanity to develop a mix of new apartments and houses that will be made available to school employees at affordable prices.

Local housing authorities like The Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority works to address the affordable housing shortage by forming community partnerships to develop housing solutions. Since 2016, the Housing Authority has built three new multifamily housing developments and rehabilitated two more.

Micro apartment communities with rent prices well below the city average are popping up in Sacramento as a way to address the affordable housing crisis. The units in these buildings are often significantly less than 500 square feet, can house no more than two people, and must provide a kitchen and a bathroom. To live there, tenants have to meet specific income requirements.

Volunteers of the PDX Housing Solidarity Project are working to redistribute generational wealth through homeownership in Portland. The project connects people with ample resources to Black and Indigenous homebuyers and helps facilitate cash gifts, no-interest loans, or other ways to assist throughout the process.

Sacramento, California, is increasing the number of affordable housing units built in the city by implementing deed restrictions that limit prices and require occupancy by low-income residents, providing free permit-ready building plans for accessory dwelling units, and prioritizing quick approvals by the city government.

The Kensington Corridor Trust acquires properties along three blocks in its Philadelphia neighborhood to give the community agency and control over how that real estate is used, with an emphasis on keeping housing affordable. The trust has acquired 16 properties so far and has signed its first commercial tenant, providing space for a local business owner.

Efforts throughout Texas to reduce homelessness are serving as inspiration for states like California, that have similar homelessness issues. From committing funding to homeless reduction programs to establishing more advanced shelters like The Navigation Center, the state recorded a 28% drop in homelessness last year and has helped several individuals transition into permanent housing.

Parity Homes is an equitable development company that is working to rehab properties that will be available for legacy residents to buy or rent for an affordable price in 2023. The organization aims to prevent residents — specifically people of color — from being pushed out of the neighborhood by supporting wealth creation through homeownership.

California’s East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative is run by residents of local historically redlined communities and supported by investors who receive moderate returns to keep rent prices affordable. The cooperative was formed to give those involved a say in decisions they were typically left out of and allows them to serve existing residents and businesses instead of trying to attract new ones.

The rapid rehousing program at Fort Lewis College in Colorado provides students with a free bed in the school’s temporary housing unit while they work with them on finding permanent housing. When necessary, the college also provides financial assistance for things like rent and utilities.

Single, non-related people are co-buying homes with the help of real estate organizations like Live Work Denver to make homeownership more affordable.

An affordable housing rental exemption program in Provincetown, Massachusetts, is increasing the number of affordable housing options in the city. The exemption decreases the property taxes homeowners pay based on the square footage of the property they are renting out.

The Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity is taking a unique approach to addressing the local affordable housing shortage. The nonprofit develops its own subdivisions and builds homes in batches, mostly constructed by volunteers, who will eventually own the homes, alongside supervisors.

Across the country, cities are pursuing office-to-housing conversions after the pandemic decimated downtown business districts. A percentage of these new apartments are required to be offered at affordable, below-market rates and some cities are also offering tax breaks for developers to incentivize these conversions.

The California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act eliminated single-family zoning so homeowners can split their lots to create rentals and make more housing available statewide.

Affordable housing communities serve various low-income populations from seniors to veterans to minorities and families. Gaining a safe and affordable place to live — with rent capped at 30% of their gross income — can help turn people’s lives around as affordable housing communities like Hope Cooperative connects residents with services like healthcare, job, and life skills to get back on their feet.

The Eden Village tiny home community helps to provide people without homes a place to live. Tiny homes communities allow municipalities to build more dense and affordable housing for the people who need it most. All the homes in the village are “permanent supportive housing,” meaning residents may live in their homes for the remainder of their lives as long as they follow the rules set forth by the community.

Programs like the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program — or Section 8 — and the Fort Wayne Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program help low-income individuals and families afford quality homes through participating private landlords and housing developments. With the voucher program, the tenant’s financial obligation is capped at about 30% of their annual gross income, while the voucher covers the rest. In some cases, the voucher can cover up to 100% of the tenant’s rent.

The Fort Stockton Independent School District in Texas is attracting qualified teachers with high pay and cheap rent at school-owned housing.

Homestead Community Land Trust and the local Habitat for Humanity specialize in helping lower-income residents become homeowners. They have portfolios of homes available to lower-income residents who make less than 80% of the area median income. To date, the community land trust model has been implemented at a small scale relative to the need and Habitat plans to build almost 300 new homes in the coming years.

The Nehemiah project began in the 1980s building privately-owned homes on land that nobody wanted in East Brooklyn and sold the homes at prices that were affordable to working class families. Church and community organizers mobilized local politicians to sell the land for almost nothing and provide subsidies for community members and raise money that could be used for loans. The program has built 6,500 homes and created an estimated $1.5 billion of wealth for first time Black and Latino homeowners.

After Oakland instituted a vacant property tax for residential units and parcels, the city collected roughly $8 million in tax revenue in 2020 to support homeless services, blight remediation, and stemming illegal dumping. The number of vacant properties in Oakland also decreased.

Organizations in the San Luis Valley are identifying and renovating abandoned homes in an effort to alleviate the affordable housing crisis. Numerous projects are currently in progress to reach a goal of reducing demand by 20 to 30 percent within the next five years.

Rhino is a startup that partners with property owners to offer renters the option of paying the company a monthly fee instead of an upfront deposit. In exchange, Rhino insures the apartment against wear and tear damages. There is no approval process, Rhino covers anyone that a property owner approves to rent, but the renter’s employment status and credit score determine their monthly premium, which can be as little as $5 for a monthly rent of $1,000.

The Fainbarg Chase Thrive Center allocated about $20,000 in emergency grants to provide students with temporary housing in partnership with local hotels that also cover utility bills and down payments. So far, the Center has supported 13 students financially, the majority of which were in need of long-term housing support after experiencing homelessness.

Boulder made building accessory dwelling units (ADUs) easier by loosening regulations so that more can be built. ADUs, which can be attached to or behind a main house, address issues of affordable housing and housing availability by providing smaller units with everything someone needs, including a kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping quarters. ADUs tap into existing utility lines, and the smaller spaces are more energy efficient, which means that they are cheaper for tenants and more eco-friendly. Other cities, seeing the affordable housing and environmental benefits, have jumped on the ADU bandwagon.