Once a neighborhood is transformed from a place of disinvestment to a vibrant community with good schools, parks, transportation, cultural attractions and shopping, the work is not over. There is another challenge looming: How can we assure that rising rents and home values don’t prevent low-income residents from benefiting from those improvements?
 


Within NeighborWorks and among professionals who look to us for training and support, the debate rages about the extent to which we should be defined as “housers.” After all, providing housing that is affordable to those with lower incomes was NeighborWorks’ founding “reason to be,” and is the basis of continued funding by the U.S. Congress.

Boom goes the oil and population

In the housing industry, typically a boom in population is a great thing, unless that population growth somehow edges out certain sectors of the population. That’s what happened when an oil boom in western North Dakota caused a 17 percent increase in population, putting a severe strain on available housing stock across the state.