“No society can be fully understood apart from the residences of its members.”
I have that quote (from “Crabgrass Frontier,” the seminal history of America’s suburbs) taped to a wall behind my desk. It summarizes why I love covering housing for The New York Times and seem never to run out of things to write about. Housing is everything. It’s where we live and raise our families. It is most people’s largest store of wealth. Whether you own, you rent, or you sleep outside, where you hang your head defines much of your existence.
Over the past few decades, and especially since the pandemic, housing has gone from a symbol of American strength to an everyday crisis. Aspiring homeowners are becoming forever renters. People live in increasingly crowded households, the supply of illegal housing has surged and homeless camps have multiplied. People are fleeing expensive states for cheaper ones — which has in turn created housing problems in the cities where they end up.
There have also been new opportunities: The rise of at-home offices has allowed many people to relocate to cheaper housing markets and prompted a number of families to quit their 9 to 5s and redevelop property or become landlords. In California and elsewhere, the legalization of backyard homes has inspired a number of homeowners to become developers by creating small rental units on their properties.
For the past several years, I have covered virtually every aspect of America’s housing crisis, from the public officials trying to tackle it in statehouses to the people living its consequences. I write about tenants as well as landlords, developers as well as environmentalists, public housing as well as private — even an attempt to build a new city from scratch.
My stories range in topic and come from around the country, but the common thread is that they are rooted in the accounts of people and the places that make them. Which is why I want to hear from you. I want to know what kinds of housing pressures you are dealing with and how they have affected your life, family, friendships and community. And I want to know what stories or topics you think need more attention. The articles I write are inspired by the stories people tell me.
I read all submissions. I also always reach back out to ask more questions and make sure I’ve got my facts right before I publish anything. I won’t publish anything without your explicit permission, and I won’t use your contact information for any other purpose or share it outside the newsroom. If you would like to submit information anonymously, please visit our tips page.
