Is the co-op the future of housing affordability?

In Memphis, a creative blight-reduction initiative called 25 Square Blocks broke down the city into blocks. Inspectors were able to quickly identify all the violations and fix them, using the same amount of funding, but less time, as the old call-and-respond model.

In the 1960s, Uruguay created a cooperative housing policy designed to help ease housing shortages especially among lower- and middle-class residents, with cooperative projects bolstered by state loans and technical support. The country now counts over 70,000 co-op-owned homes, making up roughly 5 percent of the housing stock.

The Homestead Community Land Trust offers affordable home ownership in Seattle and the rest of King County, Washington, ensuring that there is always permanently affordable homes available. This opens up homeowner opportunities for those who have historically been excluded and serves as a stem in the tide of gentrification. This article includes personal testimony from people who live in the housing, and already the program has reduced buyers' costs by 30%.

Housing affordability is a crisis that many countries face. New Zealand addressed the issue in a controversial way: by outright banning foreign ownership. Since it has come into effect, real estate pricing has gone down, and more properties are available for New Zealand residents. Critics argue that the ban coincided with world events like the Chinese government limiting how much money could leave the country into foreign events. They caution against attributing the lower prices to the ban itself and that it is still too early to see its true impact.

Swamped by short-term vacation rentals, Barcelona pushed Airbnb to share data with government officials and help ensure that only licensed properties are listed on the site. The agreement offers a model for how other cities can respond to the same problem.

The California Legislature, inspired by a decades-old Massachusetts affordable housing bill, recently passed SB 35. However, a few differences distinguish the two bills. In Massachusetts, the 40B bill fast-tracks development projects that include 20% affordable units in cities that have below the mandated amount of affordable housing. California’s bill rewards affordable housing projects, but it also rewards projects with above-average income housing. Still, the bill is a big step forward in the fight for more affordable housing at the state level.

Social and economic factors are increasingly being linked to health circumstances and outcomes. This article highlights the city of Richmond, California, which has responded to this correlation, integrating issues of health into all levels of policy.

After decades of economic and social despair that once saw it named the poorest big city in America, Cleveland has become a model of revitalization, thanks to a unique “anchor strategy” that harnesses the immense wealth and power of the city’s public institutions.

Foreclosure affects millions of homeowners and millions more owe more on their mortgages than what their homes are worth, but Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People (ESOP), offers assistance. As a free service to borrowers, ESOP holds lenders accountable with fair lending agreements, creates constructive communication, and ultimately saves homes.

Baltimore has dramatically reduced homicides through a multi-pronged approach involving a data-driven Group Violence Reduction Strategy, credible-messenger intervention programs, and aggressive prosecution of illegal gun possession. This has resulted in a record-low murder rate in 2026, with 60 killings recorded through August compared to roughly 220 at the same point four years prior.