The Urbanist Case for Trailer Parks

In a conservative upstate town in New York, an early advocate of what is now known as restorative justice pioneered the idea of finding alternatives to incarceration that address root causes of crimes and offer victims larger roles in the process. He did this by engaging different people across law enforcement, the community and social services. That built broad support, but the programs have struggled to maintain these innovations or make them permanent after the departure of the visionary founder.

Manufactured housing—including trailer homes and tiny houses—is a low-cost, small-footprint way to increase affordable housing. However, strict zoning requirements and even outright bans limit its impact.

In Oakland, a community land trust helped Hasta Muerte, a local cafe, avoid eviction. All over the country, community land trusts are helping communities of color keep their affordable housing.

A growing number of tenant-focused websites are trying to level the power dynamic between shoddy landlords and tenants by giving tenants a voice. “There is a big power mismatch in today’s rental market, but it doesn’t have to be that way.” Amongst those is Rentlogic, which grades 1.1 million apartment buildings, but rather than relying on subjective comments the website provides a grade based on an algorithm.

Proposition F, passed in 2018 with an implementation deadline of July 2019, cements San Francisco as a key advocate in making legal representation accessible, especially in eviction cases. By passing a similar measure to one passed in New York, all renters now are eligible for legal counsel in eviction cases, regardless of their income level. The program is still in the early stages, but there is a potential for cost savings, too. With fewer evictions, there will likely be a lower demand for homeless and jail services.

In Durham, New Hampshire, police officers have been undergoing training on their state’s hate crime laws and how to prevent such crimes from occurring. The workshops are organized by two advocacy groups, and while there is still much debate amongst law enforcement about the existence of hate crime laws, the officers who attended still recognized the need for such training in order to maintain trust and recognize bias in their community.

A program run by the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin uses government vouchers to encourage landlords to create additional affordable housing units with extra rooms in their home. The program, which primarily focuses on "junior accessory dwelling units" that offer small but low-price units to individuals, has created 22 affordable units over the last three years.

Santa Monica, California piloted an experiment that sends rental checks to seniors in the city. After seeing positive results, the program now plans to expand 10-fold.

Under the structure of unique treaties called final agreements, Yukon First Nations are able to exercise the powers of self-governance over projects proposed on their land. Implementation of the agreements isn’t always smooth, but 11 of the 14 First Nations have entered into these creative accords with the territorial and federal governments, which aims to foster participation and grant decision-making authority in these Indigenous communities.

Old and neglected housing contributes to climate change because it runs on fossil fuels. In New York, outdated heating systems waste two-thirds of energy. The New York City Housing Authority is not only trying to create better, safer, livable affordable housing, but also cleaner and more sustainable housing. While the city is just beginning to explore how to do that, other cities, like Paris, have already begun the work of updating old buildings that are used for affordable housing and can offer a model for American cities.