Spencer Wells
Nonprofit Quarterly
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Past articles by Spencer:
Call for Moratoriums on Evictions and Utility Shutoffs Gains Support
The coronavirus pandemic reminds us of the economic fragility of so many families. → Read More
Remove Lead and You Too Can Stop Crime in Its Tracks
When the US removed lead from paint and gasoline, the nation saw improved health and lower crime rates—all the more reason to step up lead removal work. → Read More
Consumer Groups Flag Rent-to-Own Housing Scams, but Local Advocacy Is Key
An old real estate strategy called “rent to own,” wherein the responsibilities of home ownership are placed on the renter without the benefits, is making a resurgence. → Read More
Rent Strike: An Old Tactic for a New Generation
While tenant politics must evolve new strategies, grassroots tenants engagement in the form of a rent strike can provide the fuel needed to build a national movement. → Read More
Resisting Predictive Analytics in the Age of Democratic Manipulation
This story suggests that ordinary people had a skeptical relationship with electronic media long before the Facebook fiasco. What kind of conscious resistance will it take to foster honest democratic dialogue? → Read More
Don’t Blame Rural Residents for a Broken Political System
The Daily Yonder reminds us that rural Americans seem to be the last minority that can be impugned with impunity. → Read More
Tenants in Portland, Oregon Gain New Protections from Displacement
In Oregon, state law forbids rent control. To protect tenants in Portland’s hot real estate market, last year the City Council passed a law that compels landlords to provide thousands in moving assistance if rent increases above 10 percent force tenants to move. This law is now being expanded to cover single-unit rentals. → Read More
Whack-a-Mole Continues: Federal Judge Overrules HUD Suspension of Mobility Regulation
Share Share Tweet1 EmailShares 1 January 26, 2018; NextCity NextCity’s “How New Rules for Section 8 Voucher Payments Mean More Mobility for Voucher Holders” is one of many articles celebrating the recent victory of fair housing advocates over the Trump administration. The revived Small Areas Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) rule will permit 24 Public […] → Read More
Pittsburgh Foundations Condemn Newspaper for Excusing Racism
When the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette attempted to defend President Trump by charging that the president’s critics were engaging in “new McCarthyism,” the Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments loudly voiced their dissent. This unusual step by the foundations unleashed other public statements. → Read More
Cleveland Group Helps Tenants Fight Lead Poisoning in Housing Court
A disturbing number of local health departments are failing to adequately protect children from lead poisoning. In Cleveland and other cities, legal aid attorneys are intervening in housing courts to compel landlords to remedy unsafe conditions. → Read More
Is Employment Discrimination against Seniors Experiencing “Renewed Vitality?”
The presumption that older workers can’t compete is a violation, but so is the belief among older workers that just being old makes their insights worthwhile. → Read More
What’s the Role of Elite Nonprofits in Fighting Inequality in Pittsburgh?
Mayor Bill Peduto’s call for elite nonprofits in Pittsburgh to combat inequality will require more than social work or education or technological innovation. The “eds and meds” can’t think their way out of the dilemma of two societies, separate and unequal. → Read More
Cleveland’s Boosterism Approach to Civic Decline Creates an Economic Boomerang
Cleveland’s “boosterism” approach to its own economic decline has coincided with its achieving of a top spot on the 100 biggest US cities’ “most distressed list.” → Read More
An Elephant in the Civic Living Room: Amazon and Seattle’s Mayoral Race
What can a nonprofit with a mission of civic engagement do in the face of massive campaign spending in a local election by national corporations? → Read More
“Renter Nation” Shapes Eviction Reform
Subsidizing legal representation in housing court is only one of a series of strategies being used to protect low-income renters in New York. Other regions should pay attention, because the problems of “renter nation” are coming to a neighborhood near you. → Read More
Is the Amazon Prize the Future of Urban Revitalization?
Amazon is intent upon using economic power to extract political concessions without the messiness of actually engaging with citizens. Why negotiate a deal when you can make the HQ a prize among municipalities eager to win the lottery? → Read More
Lead Poisoning: Maybe Not Someone Else’s Problem
Slowly, since the news of lead in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan, lead poisoning has become everyone’s problem. → Read More
HUD has Always Been Political—and Always Survived
It’s not just the broad base of constituents and interests that makes HUD resilient. Interlocking programs with other agencies make HUD a partner far beyond its legislative mandate. → Read More
Who Owns Rental Housing? Nonprofits Need to Know
The big takeaway from the study is the rapid increase in institutional ownership of rental housing of every size. → Read More
What Does “Cultural Reconstruction” Have to Do with Nonprofits?
Notions of bottom-up change are by no means new, but they often get hijacked unless guarded jealously by champions. → Read More