Guides
Longer explainers, each researched from primary sources. Start with the basics in any of the three topics, or go deep on how a program or policy actually works.
14Affordable Housing
Homes priced so lower-income households spend no more than about 30% of income on housing — from public housing and vouchers to tax-credit apartments.
What Is Affordable Housing?
Affordable housing in plain English: the 30% rule, AMI income bands, subsidized vs. naturally occurring homes, who it serves, and how it differs from public housing.
The Housing Affordability Crisis: Causes and Evidence
How big the U.S. housing shortage really is, who is cost-burdened, how wages compare with rents, and how zoning and building costs drive the affordability crisis.
Who Qualifies for Affordable Housing — and How to Apply
Who qualifies for affordable housing, how to find your area's income limits, which documents to gather, how waitlists work, and where to apply, from PHAs to 211.
How the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Works
A plain-English deep dive into the LIHTC: 9% vs. 4% credits, QAPs, investor equity, income and rent tests, 30-year affordability, and the 2025 changes.
Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8), Explained
How Section 8 vouchers work for renters and landlords: who qualifies, what tenants pay, payment standards, waitlists, moving with a voucher, and inspections.
Public Housing in America: Past and Present
How U.S. public housing began in 1937, why it declined, and how HOPE VI, the Faircloth limit, and RAD conversions shaped the smaller program that exists today.
How Affordable Housing Gets Financed: The Capital Stack
How an affordable apartment building is paid for: tax credit equity, a first mortgage, soft loans, a deferred developer fee and grants, and why deals take years.
Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing and Why Preservation Matters
What NOAH is, why older affordable rentals and expiring LIHTC and Section 8 homes are being lost, and the tools and funds used to preserve them.
Affordable Housing Myths vs. Evidence
Does affordable housing lower property values or bring crime? What leading studies find, where the evidence is strong, and where it is mixed.
Homelessness, Housing First and Supportive Housing
How the U.S. counts and responds to homelessness: the Continuum of Care system, Housing First and its evidence, supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and the 2025 count.
A History of Affordable Housing in America
From tenement laws to the 1937 Housing Act, urban renewal, Section 8, the LIHTC, HOPE VI and RAD: how U.S. affordable housing policy evolved, and why.
Redlining, Segregation and the Fight for Fair Housing
How HOLC maps, FHA underwriting and racial covenants segregated U.S. neighborhoods, and how Shelley, the Fair Housing Act and the CRA tried to undo it.
Social Housing Models: Vienna, Singapore and U.S. Experiments
How social housing works in Vienna and Singapore, and what U.S. public developers in Montgomery County, Seattle and other places are borrowing from them.
How Federal Housing Policy Is Funded: Appropriations vs. the Tax Code
Federal housing aid flows through two channels: yearly appropriations that vouchers depend on, and permanent tax breaks such as the LIHTC. Here is how each works.
11Workforce Housing
Homes for the teachers, nurses, first responders and service workers who earn too much for most subsidies and too little for market rents near their jobs.
What Is Workforce Housing?
Workforce housing explained: the income band it serves (roughly 60% or 80% to 120% of AMI), who lives in it, and why it is hard to build in high-cost areas.
Who Is Workforce Housing For?
Teachers, nurses, EMTs, police, retail and hospitality staff: how their pay compares with the wage local rents require, and where the housing gap opens up.
How Workforce Housing Is Financed
How homes for households at 80% to 120% of AMI get paid for when tax credits stop short: state programs, bonds, public land, tax breaks and employer money.
Employer-Assisted Housing, Explained
How employers help workers afford homes near their jobs: down payment grants, forgivable loans, rent help, master leases and employer-built housing, with real examples.
Workforce Housing in Resort, Coastal and Rural Communities
Why resort, beach and rural towns struggle to house the people who work there, and how deed restrictions, employer housing and rental rules respond.
Missing Middle Housing, Explained
Missing middle housing means duplexes, fourplexes, townhouses and cottage courts. See why they stopped being built and what new zoning laws have changed.
Inclusionary Zoning, Explained
How inclusionary zoning works: mandatory vs. voluntary programs, set-asides, in-lieu fees, developer offsets, affordability terms and what the research shows.
Teacher and Public Employee Housing
How school districts and other public employers house their own workers: verified examples, the laws that allow it, how it is financed, and the trade-offs.
A History of Workforce Housing
From Lowell boardinghouses and Pullman to wartime defense housing, Levittown and teacher housing: how America has housed its workers since the 1820s.
Zoning Reform and the YIMBY Movement
How Minneapolis, Oregon, California, Montana and Texas rewrote zoning to allow more homes, what the early evidence shows, and what critics say.
Office-to-Residential Conversions
Why office vacancies rose, which buildings can become apartments, what cities offer developers, and how many homes conversions have actually produced.
14Affordable Workforce Housing
Where the two meet: mixed-income communities, income averaging, cottage neighborhoods, land trusts and the paths that carry working families from renting to owning.
Affordable Housing vs. Workforce Housing: What’s the Difference?
Affordable housing and workforce housing serve different income bands, run on different money and are built by different players. Here is a side-by-side comparison.
The Housing Continuum, Explained
From emergency shelter to market-rate homeownership: each rung of the housing continuum, who it serves by AMI band, which programs pay for it, and where the gaps are.
Mixed-Income Housing and Income Averaging
What mixed-income housing is, how it is designed and financed, how the LIHTC average income test works, and what research says about results for residents.
Cottage Communities and Pocket Neighborhoods
How cottage communities and pocket neighborhoods work: small homes around a shared green, the zoning behind them, what they cost and who they serve.
Community Land Trusts and Shared Equity Homeownership
How community land trusts use ground leases and resale formulas to keep homes affordable for one buyer after another, and what the research says about results.
Pathways From Renting to Owning
How renters become homeowners: FHA, USDA and VA loans, down payment assistance, shared equity, rent-to-own and its risks, and homebuyer education.
How Affordable Workforce Housing Gets Built, Step by Step
The eight steps from finding land to managing a finished building, with sourced timing benchmarks for approvals, financing, construction and lease-up.
What Local Governments Can Do
A toolkit for cities and counties: zoning reform, by-right approvals, public land, fee waivers, trust funds, inclusionary policies and tax tools, with examples.
The Future of Affordable and Workforce Housing
The trends reshaping affordable and workforce housing: zoning reform, ADUs, factory-built homes, office conversions, employer and social housing, and new federal laws.
Factory-Built Housing: Modular, Manufactured and Panelized
Manufactured, modular and panelized homes are all built in factories but follow different codes. See the evidence on cost, speed, financing, zoning and new law.
Affordable and Workforce Housing in Delaware
How housing help works in Delaware: the state housing agency, key programs, how New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties differ, and where to get help.
Fair Housing Today: Rights, Duties and Current Debates
Who the Fair Housing Act protects, what landlords must do, how tenant screening and ads are regulated, how to file a complaint, and what changed in 2025-2026.
Housing Data Sources: How to Measure Housing Need
What HUD income limits, Fair Market Rents, CHAS, the ACS, the PIT count and other housing datasets measure, how old they are, and how to use them correctly.
Why Housing Costs So Much to Build
Where the money goes when a home gets built: land, construction, soft costs and financing, why a subsidized unit can cost more, and what brings costs down.