December 3, 2025
Housing affordability has become a central issue in US politics today. And no wonder! For tens of millions of people across the nation, the price of housing—whether rented or owned—is out of reach. So in today’s Resourcing the Field newsletter, we look at what nonprofits, communities, and movements can do to sustain themselves by supporting quality housing that is affordable to all.
Social housing—that is, housing that is treated as a right, not a commodity—could ensure long-term affordability. Dr. Seumalu Elora Raymond writes about how the rise of private equity in residential housing has turbocharged a lack of housing affordability, and offers policy solutions in response. Fernando Abarca from Right to the City in Los Angeles offers a complementary account, centering the vital role that tenant unions can play in advancing sustainable models of housing like community land trusts and housing cooperatives that capture the value of real estate equity gains for community benefit.
Unsurprisingly, immigrants struggle greatly with housing issues. To stave off gentrification, many turn to the community stewardship of land, housing, and business. J.M. Wong offers insights from community organizing among Asian Americans in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, while Luz Zambrano brings us a story of organizing among Colombian and other Latin American immigrants in Greater Boston to develop community-owned businesses and housing that is kept permanently affordable through a community land trust.
In reading these articles, I encourage you to reflect on how to resource housing justice and housing affordability in your own community.
Steve Dubb
Senior Editor
Economic Justice
