Our homes are emotional sanctuaries. They define our identities and sense of belonging and provide a foundation for security and community. For too long, housing justice narratives have underrepresented this storytelling aspect, leaving critical stories untold and engagement opportunities unexplored. Without new storytelling techniques, the narratives that shape public understanding and support for housing justice will continue to overlook the experiences of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, further entrenching disparities in access to secure, affordable housing.

Through media platforms like YouTube, housing justice advocates have a wealth of opportunities to expand their storytelling practices. As an influential platform driven by personalities and emotional content, YouTube offers opportunities to broaden community engagement by meeting audiences where they are and using relatable storytelling techniques to drive participation in the movement.

PolicyLink, in collaboration with Harmony Labs and Erin Potts, cultural researcher, conducted an analysis to understand how different audiences consume housing-related content on YouTube and identify opportunities to better engage them on housing justice issues. The following five takeaways reflect our high-level guidance on uprooting harmful narratives using messaging, language, storytelling, and data. 

1. Center Stories of Personal Experiences With Housing Insecurity
2. Let the Emotion Flow,  Let Intellectualizing Go
3. Leverage Community-Oriented Holidays for Mobilization
4. Weave Housing Justice Themes into Genres Like Gaming, Crime, and Horror
5. Share Examples of Collective Action to Nurture Hope in a Brighter Future

Download the research brief

• Homes as Sanctuaries: Audience and Storytelling Insights from YouTube

Download the mini-playbook

• How to Win on Housing

To realize the unfulfilled promise of our democracy as one where all can thrive, we must commit to developing an individual and collective soul that can love all.

This supplement details how we must move forward into this transformative work of our time by getting our souls right and serving as founders of a new nation that can hold, honor, and nourish all. 

View the digital edition and download the PDF.

"Enraizar La Justicia: Hacia futuros espaciales reparadores en materia de tierra y vivienda" sirve como documento fundamental de nuestro compromiso con la justicia espacial reparativa. 

Es a la vez un llamado de atención a la acción y una invitación abierta a la colaboración y el diálogo, que abarca las conversaciones necesarias, las tensiones y el crecimiento colectivo necesarios inherentes a este viaje.

En esta publicación inaugural, subrayamos la necesidad urgente de un marco de justicia espacial reparadora en las políticas de tierrasuelo y vivienda. El artículo eleva conceptos críticos, resultados de investigaciones y diversas perspectivas desde el campo, iluminando la naturaleza compleja y multifacética de la justicia espacial reparativa. A partir de una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura realizada por el equipo de vivienda de PolicyLink y conocimientos empíricos de una investigación cualitativa realizada por Social Insights, esta publicación sintetiza conversaciones con defensores, trabajadores de primera línea y líderes de opinión en justicia espacial, reparaciones, justicia de vivienda y justicia territorial. La integración de estos conocimientos formula un conjunto de recomendaciones basadas en evidencia, trazando un rumbo estratégico para profesionales, investigadores, formuladores de políticas, organizadores y defensores dedicados a este trabajo transformado

• Read the Executive Summary (English)
• Read the Executive Summary (Spanish)
• Read the Full Publication (English)

Grounding Justice: Toward Reparative Spatial Futures in Land and Housing serves as the foundational document for our commitment to reparative spatial justice. It is both a clarion call to action and an open invitation for collaboration and dialogue, embracing the necessary conversations, tensions, and collective growth inherent in this journey.

In this inaugural publication, we underscore the urgent need for a reparative spatial justice framework in land and housing policy. The paper elevates critical concepts, research findings, and diverse perspectives from the field, illuminating the complex and multifaceted nature of reparative spatial justice. Drawing from a comprehensive literature review by the PolicyLink housing team and empirical insights from qualitative research conducted by Social Insights, this publication synthesizes conversations with advocates, frontline workers, and thought leaders in spatial justice, reparations, housing justice, and land justice. Together, these insights form a set of evidence-based recommendations, charting a strategic course for practitioners, researchers, policymakers, organizers, and advocates dedicated to this transformative work.

• Read the Executive Summary (English)
• Read the Executive Summary (Spanish)
• Read the Full Publication (English)

On February 14, 2024, the Department of Treasury released an NPRM to combat the illicit finance risks from anonymous companies and all-cash real estate transactions. This rule would help local, state, and federal governments address the rapid and high-volume shifts in ownership of housing stock that are difficult to trace and track. As residential real estate ownership structures continue to evolve, local jurisdictions struggle to understand who owns their housing stock. This, in turn, has serious implications for tenants, prospective homebuyers, current homeowners, and local landlords who are impacted daily by absentee landlords that disrupt the fabric of our communities. 

On April 16, 2024, PolicyLink submitted the following comment supporting the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Department of Treasury in expanding Anti-Money Laundering requirements to a broader category of investment advisors and collecting and reporting residential beneficial ownership data. The proposed rule will support efforts to identify predatory actors in the housing market, develop policy to halt their activity, and shift the benefits of ownership and housing stability back to the people who need it most: households who live and work in our communities.

We look forward to continuing to support the administration in regulating the residential real estate market to advance housing justice for the 100 million.

In April, HUD released a NPRM on reducing barriers to HUD-assisted Housing, namely reducing the barriers that criminal records pose on people trying to access HUD-assisted housing like public housing. This NPRM has been lauded by PolicyLink partners across the field as ground-breaking work from HUD. 

This NPRM came before the strong and comprehensive guidance that HUD released in late April. Although the guidance is more comprehensive, the NPRM still follows similar principles as the guidance. Specifically, the proposed rule tries to establish more equitable standards for HUD-assisted housing providers to evaluate criminal records when making housing decisions related to admission, eviction, and program termination.  

On June 10, 2024, we submitted the following comment supporting HUD’s role to regulate the usage of criminal records in housing decisions with brief recommendations that would improve clarity, consistency, and the impact of the proposed rule. 

We look forward to continuing to support the administration in regulating housing practices to support more fair, just, and equitable housing markets.