Julia Duranti-Martínez
Stable Homes and Resident Empowerment
This report from the LISC Community Research and Impact team describes COPA and TOPA policies at work and their outcomes in DC and San Francisco, implementation lessons, and evidence about the impact of these policies based on preliminary LISC analyses of housing market dynamics in New York City.
LGBTQ+ Liberation and Community Development: A Reflection
In recognition and celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, LISC’s Institute for Community Power delves into the intersections between the work of community development and that of queer and trans communities across the country around housing, land use, economic mobility and much more. In the piece that follows, Julia Duranti-Martinez, senior program officer for Community Research and Impact and a member of LISC's LGBTQ+ affinity group, highlights some of the struggles and triumphs of LGBTQ+ people and communities in the context of our sector, and of our society as a whole—and points to the paths leading to progress.
Spotlight on LGBTQ+ Liberation and Community Development
LGBTQ+ people have a powerful history of organizing and cooperation to support. Yet there is little focus within community development on development without displacement by and for queer and trans communities, and the challenges and opportunities they face in scaling this work. As extremist groups and policies increasingly target LGBTQ+ people, strategies to build queer and trans community and economic power for systems change are urgently needed. This LISC Institute for Community Power Spotlight focuses on the intersections between LGBTQ+ liberation and community development.
Spotlight on Investor Ownership of Housing
Institutional investor ownership of housing is a major driver of rising housing costs and deteriorating housing quality across a wide range of contexts and housing types, from rural manufactured housing to single family homes in the Midwest and Sun Belt to multifamily apartment buildings in hot markets like the Bay Area and New York City. This LISC Institute for Community Power Spotlight gives an overview of the rise of investor ownership and its impacts on communities, and strategies tenants and their community partners are using to reclaim their homes.
Tenant & Community Opportunity to Purchase Policies
Implementation lessons and impact prospects for Tenant and Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA or COPA) policies.
Commercial Community Ownership as a Strategy for Just Development
This LISC report highlights commercial community ownership strategies and shares lessons and recommendations from groups working to preserve affordable space for small businesses and community organizations, build community wealth, and promote community-led economic development.
Spotlight on Guaranteed Income
The U.S. saw a significant expansion of government assistance during the pandemic that provided a lifeline for families and dramatically reduced child poverty rates. While temporary, these expanded benefits, together with historic mobilizations for racial justice, brought renewed attention to longstanding efforts to expand the social safety net, including through proposals for an income guarantee. This LISC Institute for Community Power Spotlight gives an overview of guaranteed income proposals, policies, and lessons learned from rapidly-expanding pilots nationwide, and how guaranteed income can advance racial, economic, and gender justice.
Spotlight on Climate Justice
Drawing on a long history of environmental justice organizing led by BIPOC, immigrant, and low-income communities, and an even longer history of Indigenous land stewardship practices grounded in relationships and reciprocity, the climate justice movement is repairing inequities and cultivating community-led solutions to the climate crisis. This LISC Institute Spotlight highlights climate justice resources for community development practitioners.
Gambling with Homes, or Investing in Communities
LISC’s research report offers rigorous evidence that large landlords have reaped the greatest profits in communities of color, and that this speculation drives evictions and poor housing maintenance quality.
Equitable Pathways to Small Business Recovery
A playbook from LISC and Next City that offers a framework for pursuing equitable pathways to small business success, and lays out contextualized strategies related to capital access, small business capacity, and commercial real estate.