Pejuta Waste O’Tipi is an indigenous-led resource that provides support to the local homeless community, including shelter, meals, cultural healing, peer support and leadership training to help them reenter the community. The shelter serves meals to over 100 people each day, and more than half of the participants have maintained sobriety since visiting the shelter.

Several cities have fully banned or passed ordinances regulating Airbnb and other short-term rentals to prevent the cities from being overrun by tourists and rental properties. These policies combat the “Airbnb effect” that has been seen in cities from Irvine, California all the way to Bed-Stuy in New York. Cities that have passed these ordinances see lower rent rates, more equitable housing markets and a more sustainable tourism economy.

Brilliant Corners helps vulnerable, low-income individuals secure housing by working with other local organizations, including the Flexible Housing Subsidy Poll, which helps match people with suitable housing options. Brilliant Corners has helped about 13,000 people get into permanent housing and can cover over $10 million in rent subsidies every month.

The Bradshaw Animal Shelter’s PAWS mobile clinic travels to homeless encampments and shelters throughout the community to provide care to residents’ pets, including vaccinations, microchips, flea, tick and parasite prevention, as well as spay and neuter services, free of charge.

ROC USA helps residents of manufactured home communities form co-ops to purchase the property their homes are built on, giving residents more stability and control over where they live. The organization has helped create 312 manufactured home communities in 21 states since 2008.

When plans for a new private hotel fell through, community organizations and developers like Pine Street Inn took over the 140 Clarendon building to provide permanent, supportive housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness. Pine Street Inn now owns and operates more than 440 permanent supportive housing locations, providing a home for about 900 people in the Greater Boston area.

Moms for Housing reclaim vacant homes owned by investors to provide a place for single mothers to live. Advocating for housing as a human right, 13 organizers are currently living in these unoccupied houses and through civil disobedience, managed to negotiate temporary housing as they continue fighting for permanent solutions to the area’s housing crisis.

An architect in Chennai, India, is retrofitting private residences and public buildings to be more sustainable. They make changes like installing energy-efficient upgrades, solar panels, improved ventilation, and low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water and energy consumption.

unBlocked Englewood, in collaboration with the Chicago Bungalow Association, works to help Black people own and keep their longtime homes in their families by addressing the racist practices that prevent Black home ownership and helping provide funds to cover costly home repairs.

Rypins House is a residential treatment home for older adults run by the Progress Foundation that provides access to safe housing, mental health and addiction recovery care. Progress Foundation serves dual-diagnosis patients — those with both a mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder — and takes a social rehabilitation and harm-reduction approach to care, encouraging residents to take ownership of their recovery.

Community First Village offers permanent affordable housing to people who are chronically homeless. The Village houses about 400 residents in tiny homes, while also providing a sense of community, including a convenience store, community garden, medical clinic and chapel. Community First Village is set to add nearly 2,000 homes across three locations and has also inspired several similar housing villages across the country.

Mandatory inclusionary zoning policies have increased affordable housing stock in many cities across the U.S. In most cases, the policies require developers build 5-10% of new units with rents attainable for low- to median-income people, or pay a fee, which is dedicated to other affordable housing projects. In Redmond, Washington, such policy has resulted in a 42% growth of housing stock since 2010.

The Community Receiver Program works with real estate professionals of color to rehabilitate vacant and foreclosed properties. These properties are then resold to local homebuyers — to preserve generational wealth — or rented out at affordable rates. The program trains people to be community receivers for free, teaching them how to acquire and rehabilitate the buildings, as well as how to leverage grants and local funding programs. Since 2020, the Program has trained about 520 people, rehabilitated 16 buildings and contributed about $4.5 million in restored property value.

The Dry Stone Walling School of Japan is keeping the tradition of building walls out of stones collected from the neighboring environment alive by connecting students with local craftsmen. Building walls this way is a viable alternative to concrete that supports biodiversity and produces less carbon emissions.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein campus provides an intergenerational community — and housing — for LGBTQ+ youth and seniors experiencing homelessness. The Center has 202 affordable housing units and it also offers several programs and services including counseling, support groups, job assistance, skills training and connections to health and mental health care, all while fostering community between the seniors and youth staying at the Center.

The Detroit LeadSafe Housing program targets households in zip codes with high numbers of homes built prior to 1978, before Congress banned lead paint in residential settings. The program has renovated 112 units since forming in 2016 and has since branched out to collaborate with Urban Neighborhood Initiatives to eliminate language barriers by reaching those in majority-Latino neighborhoods.

The City’s ADU bonus program offers landlords a one-for-one deal if they agree to construct an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) that is affordable, specifically for those under certain income requirements, then they are automatically permitted to build a second “bonus” unit on the property and set the rent at whatever price they’d like. This law has created an influx of affordable housing, as landlords are permitted to have up to five units on one property.

Impact Justice’s Homecoming Project helps formerly incarcerated individuals secure housing by pairing them with homeowners renting out a spare bedroom or studio space in their homes. Impact Justice pays the homeowner for six months, providing the formerly incarcerated participant with enough time to rebuild and acclimate to life outside of prison without the burden of paying rent. The Homecoming Project is meant to be an alternative to transitional housing that can sabotage the formerly incarcerated person’s independence.

The affordable housing crisis in Eagle, Colorado, is creating a severe staff shortage in local schools. So, the school district is partnering with organizations and developers like Habitat for Humanity to develop a mix of new apartments and houses that will be made available to school employees at affordable prices.

In 2008, ROC USA began helping form resident-owned mobile home communities, and since then has assisted in the creation of over 300 such communities in 21 states throughout the U.S, consisting of almost 22,000 homeowners throughout the U.S. The organization works with philanthropic organizations, other nonprofits, insurers, banks and government entities to raise commitments in advance of a park’s purchase.

KC Tenants is a tenant union that connects renters to put pressure on landlords and local government to protect tenant rights. With the help of the group’s political arm, KC Tenants Power, they have blocked thousands of evictions, received millions of dollars in funding to secure affordable housing for those in need and have grown to about 10,000 members. Outside of blocking evictions and securing long-term affordable housing, the group also has four members who won City Council seats.

Funding from the American Rescue Plan Act is being used to combat homelessness and housing insecurity by using federal dollars to provide affordable rental housing — like Desert Hope apartments — rental assistance for tenants and other supportive services for those experiencing homelessness.

Tiny homes are being used to address the state’s homelessness crisis by providing a more permanent housing solution to those in need than tents or encampments. The city is currently operating 600 tiny homes and working to build more as they’ve seen a 10% decrease in the city’s unsheltered population. Of the 1,500 people who have lived in the tiny homes, 48% have moved on to permanent housing.

The Housing Helps program in the popular tourist town of Breckenridge, Colorado, provides homeowners, buyers, and businesses providing housing for their employees with funding for repairs, assessments, and down payments. The program aims to support home preservation and supply more affordable housing for locals.

Two Texas-based companies are 3D printing homes in an effort to combat the housing crisis and produce fewer emissions than a typical home construction. The companies lay the foundation and rebar for support. Then, a machine with a robotic arm builds up the walls by printing layers of a cement-like material.