The results benefit residents, neighbors, and the organizations themselves.
A growing trend in affordable housing is transforming often-vacant ground-floor spaces into community hubs by prioritizing nonprofit tenants. Saul Ettlin of Community Vision outlines how these partnerships benefit developers, residents, and neighborhoods alike.
Nonprofits gain long-term affordable leases and visibility, while developers secure stable tenants, community buy-in, and sometimes additional funding opportunities. Residents and neighbors benefit from active street-level uses such as child care centers, health clinics, arts programs, and culturally responsive services. This “placekeeping” approach helps preserve community identity and prevents cultural displacement.
The article shares lessons the author learned from working on 11 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects in California, offering best practices for developers, nonprofits, and local governments. Early collaboration and long-term leases are key to success. With intention and trust, these partnerships turn underutilized commercial space into vibrant assets that reinforce equitable development.
FULL STORY: From Empty Spaces to Community Places: Why Nonprofits Belong on the Ground Floor of Affordable Housing
Fact Check: New Housing Doesn’t Lead to Overcrowded Schools
A common refrain heard by locals opposed to new housing developments is that area schools can’t absorb the increase in students they’ll bring. As the nation approaches an “enrollment cliff,” the data tells a different story.
Expanding the Mission: Community Groups Serving Schools
Some community development organizations have added education to their traditional focus on housing and economic development, looking for ways to support families and children by partnering with local school districts. How is it working?
Strength in Diversity: Crafting an Affordable Housing Coalition in Cincinnati
The city’s longtime champions of housing for low-income residents joined forces with an array of allies to establish a sustainable source of funding for affordable housing.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association