Miriam Axel-Lute

Is Housing the Key to Attracting Teachers? These Folks Think So. Teacher shortages and high housing prices are leading to efforts across the U.S. to provide educators with affordable housing options.

There are some great programs out there: shelterforce.org/2024/11/25/i...

I enjoy the editing and planning work that is most of my job, but I also do love getting my teeth into actually reporting a story now and then, and I'm getting to do that this week and it's great. Been too long.

Scattered Homes, Shared Landlords: The Changing Landscape of Tenant Organizing As the single-family rental market grows, organizers are adapting their tactics to a housing landscape that stretches across neighborhoods.

Tenant organizing calls to mind neighbors in an apartment building getting together to negotiate with their landlord. But with the rise of the single family rentals and corporate landlords, it now often has to look a little different. shelterforce.org/2026/01/22/s...

The term “law enforcement” should not be used by media, except perhaps in quotations. It has sadly become an Orwellian term that is used to magically sanctify violence. Language matters. Be specific. Describe individuals with names and ranks. Say exactly what they did. Don’t repeat fascist hocum.

So important. What they say is not the story. That is never the story. What happened is the story. Write what happened.

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

Two Major Studies, 125,000 Kids: The Social Media Panic Doesn’t Hold Up For years now, we’ve been repeatedly pointing out that the “social media is destroying kids” narrative, popularized by Jonathan Haidt and others, has been built on a foundation of…

"Haidt’s claims of inherent harm are not well-founded, and the policy proposals to ban kids entirely from social media are a bad idea. For older teenage boys, having no social media was associated with *worse* outcomes than having too much of it"

"At any given time, a large portion of us cannot express our need for a home as economic demand for a home. The market does not even see us.

I’m not advocating market-based solutions. I’m saying that if we don’t create solutions to the market’s failure, then we are failing."

Our Housing System Assumes Homelessness Our lack of affordable housing isn't a failure on the part of the people seeking housing—it's a failure of the market.

"We put more time, effort, and creativity into our massive compliance edifice than we do into ending homelessness. From the Puritans to the present, our governments have prioritized their obsession with separating the worthy from the unworthy."

Our Housing System Assumes Homelessness Our lack of affordable housing isn't a failure on the part of the people seeking housing—it's a failure of the market.

@shelterforce.bsky.social doesn't usually run general housing affordability pieces b/c our readers already care. But this one was so full zingers, I couldn't not. shelterforce.org/2026/01/16/o...

How this small Adirondack town used a new law to save its mobile home park In a first under New York’s right of first refusal law, North Elba residents blocked a private equity firm from buying their manufactured home park.

Grest use of an expanded right of first refusal in New York! www.timesunion.com/capitol/arti...

Stand With Minnesota: Resource Hub Causes to Donate to in Minnesota to Help Our Communities Defend Themselves from ICE This list is now available/shareable at standwithminnesota.org *Note: I am from Minnesota, and these come from peo...

Places to send resources to support folks on the ground in Minnesota. Notice the rent funds—just like early in COVID, when home is the only safe place, helping folks staying stably housed is more crucial than ever.

What Is TOPA? TOPA is a policy that gives tenants some specific rights when their building goes up for sale. Here we describe what they typically include.

If you're heard of "TOPA" but aren't sure what it is or how it works, @shelterforce.bsky.social has got a video for you! (Hint: It stands for Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, but it's used generically to mean any such policy, not just the original one in DC.)

Reminder that “Say her name” was developed specifically to call attention to murders of Black women

Face masks ‘inadequate’ and should be swapped for respirators, WHO is advised Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid

Infuriating that these photos show a respirator mask being worn very poorly (way too low on the nose, nose piece not shaped). I know how hard it is to find good images, but @theguardian.com should have been more careful. Also the headline writer should realize the public calls these both face masks.

start with what it is (not what it isn't)
focus on why they're lying (not their lies)
make it about them (not her)
eat their frame

Make it viral.

One guy tried, unsuccessfully, to blow up a plane with a bomb in his sneakers, and everybody had to take off their shoes at the airport for the next 20 years.

Chatbots have a collective body count equal to Richard "The Night Stalker" Ramirez, and they're trying to put them in schools.

Congrats to @ceaweaver.bsky.social for being the new head of NYC’s Office of Tenant Protection!

Despite what we are often told, this line from Mamdani’s inauguration speech is what true pragmatism actually looks like:

“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”

Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.

Yup, it’s a good ‘un.

Corollary: once you successfully put in someone else’s address, remember to change the default back to yours next time (and the time after that). Ask me how I know.

Ny new favorite response to explaining hypermobility came from the guy at the climbing gym yesterday, who said to my older kid, “So basically you’re 1/3 origami on your mother’s side.”

I had a similar reaction to that news.

Shelterforce Newsmatch campaign 2025 Thank you for helping us close out our 50th year strong! We deeply appreciate all our readers and supporters who help us to keep doing the important work of reporting […]

This seems like a really good time to remind y'all to support nonprofit journalism. Of course if you're a Shelterforce reader or care about housing issues, please include us. But the most important thing is to support real journalists of some stripe if you can. shelterforce.org/donate

We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the courage it fears, not the appeasement it feeds on.

Daaaaaang.

Weird thing where people say “no one could have predicted it” when really what they mean is their political commitments and orientation were such that they ignored everyone who was predicting it

Sorry but “no one could have“ and you having your head stuck up your ass are two different situations

Mixed Income, Net Zero, and Fish Friendly: Innovation at The Southard A community land trust turned a difficult site in suburban Seattle into a sustainable, diverse, mixed-ownership-form development.

Confession time: when we run a profile of a group that is doing several totally different interesting things at once, it's SO hard to write a headline. So we didn't get the "including group homes proactively in a subdivision part" in. But now you know. shelterforce.org/2025/09/17/m...

I'm so happy to be able to share all these positive stories about community ownership with you all. It's been a comfort to work on during these tough times.