New research out today with my colleague Jacob Udell on financial distress in the multifamily market. We focus on the impact on tenants, who have little say over their landlords’ financial decisions but bear the brunt of the consequences of this escalating crisis. Check it out!

This is far worse than anyone expected. Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps. All as mass internment camps are being built.

Think federal government housing aid is focused on low-income families & largely funded by the Department of Housing & Urban Development? Think again. In new work @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, we provide a comprehensive account of the US government's many housing supports, which go far beyond HUD 🏘️

As insurance prices balloon & companies refuse renewals, state “insurers of last resort” (FAIR plans) are often the only coverage option left for many homeowners. Our new report explains how they often prioritize cost savings for companies, not affordability for families.

Check out @cplusc.bsky.social ’s new research on insurers of last resort and follow the brilliant @ipenaranda.bsky.social for more!

In the last six weeks, the Tenant Union Federation launched seven (7) majority tenant unions, across five (5) states, representing 1000 units of housing owned by Capital Realty Group, a New York-based corporate landlord. The first portfolio organizing of its kind... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Excellent read by @rebeccaburns.bsky.social , from the history of union pension investments to the growing number of union members “calling for investment in social goods, like green energy and affordable housing.”

Applications are due next Sunday October 5th for the @cplusc.bsky.social Housing Policy Manager role, spread the word!

Many American politicians are learning from Vienna, which is combatting housing scarcity+climate change-- all at the same time. This group from Portland is another example. To go on a podcast jaunt and read more about Vienna's green social housing, check out our feature from June on @npr.org 📻🎧🌍

[email protected] is hiring! We're looking for a Housing & Communities Policy Manager who brings expertise in greening the housing stock and industrial policy for climate-safe homes. Lots more info on the webpage, but we're 100% remote and treat our people well. Apply by October 5!

EXTRACTION is hitting the road this fall. Thrilled to be in conversation with @dharna.bsky.social @bentarnoff.com @dwallacewells.bsky.social @earthworks.bsky.social and others. Stay tuned for more events in the winter and spring! @wwnorton.com

‼️ Join my team ‼️ @cplusc.bsky.social is hiring a Housing Policy Manager to help advance progressive housing and climate solutions alongside some of the best tenant unions, labor unions, policymakers, and researchers in the field. Apply here by Oct 5! climateandcommunity.org/careers/

The idea that insurance premiums are a good way to mitigate climate risk to housing is a common misconception that, unfortunately, can obscure real solutions to the risks of climate change and perpetuate existing inequities. Why is that? Well... 1/8

Tenant organizers have been saysing for a long while that most homeowners should cast their lot with renters, for this reason.

The climate crisis is a catastrophe we cannot afford to ignore, means-test, or isolate as an ​“add-on” to other problems. Workers and tenants across the country understand that, and are advancing green economic populism at home and at work. So fun to get to dig into it w/ @batul.bsky.social.

Are you going to Netroots? Join us TOMORROW, 3:45-4:45 PM for “Building Green Economic Populism,” moderated by @maryannaise.bsky.social with PA State Sen. @nikilsaval.bsky.social, @ctulocal1.bsky.social's Stacy Davis Gates, Tenant Union Federation's Tara Raghuveer, and CCI's @jbozuwa.bsky.social

Labor and tenant unions can not only win climate objectives as well as economic ones but also build their bases through them. Chicago's @ctulocal1.bsky.social and Southside Together show us how, as recounted in this piece by @cplusc.bsky.social's @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social and @batul.bsky.social.

Lots of good housing writing out this week! 🔥 @taraghuveer.bsky.social on tenants organizing for Zohran Mamdani for @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social: bit.ly/3J0TmZn 🔥 @sonalj.bsky.social on greening public housing for @cplusc.bsky.social: bit.ly/3H29skY 🔥 PolicyLink on rent control: bit.ly/4o6NLB2

Holy-Shit-grade new whitepaper just dropped from @cplusc.bsky.social. Download this. Use this. It is so good. I do not work there, I just think it is neat!

Some wild stats we found during research: 1️⃣ 45M rental units need substantial repairs 2️⃣ we need to 2x housing construction + 30x retrofits pace to reach CO2 reduction goals & supply needs 3️⃣ Construction labor is on decline. 500k construction job openings expected in 2025 We need a new approach!

I'm thrilled to share my latest essay, We Need a Green Industrial Policy for Housing. We need abundant green housing security. This is how we get it. Written w the brilliant Julia Wagner & @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social. Short 🧵 climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com/p/we-need-a-...

A green social housing agenda could drive innovative manufacturing for all of the green home technologies we'll need for healthy + decarbonized homes. Not just a dream - real examples from NYCHA & Vienna. Great piece by @aldasky.bsky.social, @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social, and @cplusc.bsky.social

Zohranomics is an effective form of antifascist economic policy. The crisis of economic security that comes with basic questions of dignity & identity is being used by the far right. An agenda laser-focussed on the needs of ordinary people is the way out.

It's also a good way to survive a climate disaster

update

Nearly half of Vienna's population lives in public housing. Our hidden gem of the week examines how the city's social housing offers a compelling counter-narrative to the neoliberal housing crisis. By @aldasky.bsky.social, @ruthygourevitch.bsky at @cplusc.bsky.social‬ buff.ly/EJ9WRO2

Multifamily construction is 🆙 but low-rent units are dwindling. We're losing low-rent units faster than we're building. And new units are expensive Rent regulations are often pitted against supply. But as US hemorrhages affordable homes, rent regs are actually a path to *preserve* affordable supply

US home prices have greatly outpaced incomes: in 2024, the price-to-income ratio hit 5, well above the ratio of 3 that has traditionally been considered affordable. As prices rose, existing home sales dropped to a 30-year low. New report out today: www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nation...

In NY, homeowners are 2x as likely to vote as tenants. Unless there are pro-tenant policies on the ballot, that is, like a rent freeze. In the mayoral race @tenantbloc.bsky.social tried to awaken the untapped potential of tenants as a political bloc. Read @thomasbirm.bsky.social on this strategy ⬇️

The Mamdani campaign offers a blueprint for the climate left: the path to full decarbonization must run through working class demands for affordability and quality-of-life jacobin.com/2025/06/mamd...

Imagine being Hasret Icsen. You pay $1,015/month for a 3-bedroom apartment in a green, mixed-income building full of amenities. When you touch your home, you're touching climate progress. This is Vienna's green social housing. As @NPR explains, we could do it here www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...

Do not sleep on the strategy of muttering “Viennese green social housing” everywhere you go, you never know where it can lead!

Vienna is the global capital of social housing, and is regularly ranked as the world's most livable city. Our new report, featured in this @npr.org exclusive, explores Vienna’s green social housing—home to the majority of its renters—and how it can work here. www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...

As climate solutions reporter I find many 'solutions' don't scale- or reduce pollution at all. Which is why after months of reporting I want to tell you about Vienna. Vienna has found a way to make affordable housing and combat climate change, all at the same time. Now U.S. cities want in. 🎧⬇️

Most of Vienna's renters live in affordable, climate resilient social housing, and people love it. This is green economic populism in action, and a model to replicate. This great @juliaradio.bsky.social @npr.org piece ft. our @cplusc.bsky.social work has the deets! www.npr.org/2025/06/15/n...

When Huerta says “We are a power” He means the farmworker, the janitor, the nurse, the home care provider. The workers. And he’s right. You can’t detain a movement. #FreeDavidHuerta #FreeThemAll

You can be evicted for: calling 911 too many times; being wrongly accused of shoplifting; having a son with a disability who needs help; being a victim of domestic violence. This is "crime-free housing" in America. A searing, crucial investigation by Sidnee King Pineda:

"...for protests to succeed, they must be backed by movements with the ability to promise to withhold—labor, debt payments, rent payments, or consumer support—and to follow through if demands aren’t met." Glad to have gotten the opportunity to push this line in Time time.com/collections/...

How is home insurance both a cost of living + climate issue? Read Housing Director @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social and fellow @moira.bsky.social explain how home insurance works, why rising rates are driven by disasters, and how to fix the system. climatecommunityinstitute.substack.com/p/the-home-i...

Transportation costs are a huge problem! Housing costs in regions like New York City are, definitely, very high. But transportation costs are much lower! That's what makes it possible for NYC region to have lower overall housing + transportation costs than the Dallas region. htaindex.cnt.org/map/

Despite a federal government hostile to climate and housing progress, tenants are creating a blueprint for how to organize effectively amid the climate crisis and win safer and more affordable homes. Read @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social to learn how: shelterforce.org/2025/04/04/t...

Bee's home filled with ash during the wildfires. Holly pays $350/month to heat her studio apt. Desperate for safety & change, both turned to a trusted source: the tenant union. The climate crisis hits tenants hardest, but tenants are fighting back. I wrote about it in @shelterforce.bsky.social

“I think pretty much every legislator in Olympia knows him. He’s a serious young man who really wants to fight for justice, and he knows how to express himself and he’s tireless. He is like 24/7 on immigrant rights and farmworker rights.” www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

we recently published a report that shows depth of popularity of rent control and good cause across NYS. www.cssny.org/publications... Just look at these numbers:

NEW: Insurers are hiking rates, shrinking protections, and refusing coverage while disasters increase nationwide. 2 decades after Hurricane Katrina, average premium rates in Louisiana are 8th highest in the US. New analysis by us shows how bad its become: climateandcommunity.org/research/sha...

Very exciting development in Seattle: a corporate tax to fund green social housing won decisively inthesetimes.com/article/soci...