Affordable Housing Is Leading the Way on Innovative Design
Exciting lessons from income-restricted housing in designing for connection, community resilience, and healing.
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Big ideas, bold solutions. Explore the latest research, analysis, and policy insights from our experts.
Better Life Lab Story Fellows: Introducing the Inaugural Cohort
These talented journalists and researchers will spend the next six months investigating America's care crisis
Resilience from the Ground Up: Community-Based Housing in Urabá, Colombia
The key to a better housing system lies not in building for people, but in equipping them to lead and design their own upgrades.
Preservation and Wealth-Building: Insights from Senior Homeowners in Chicago’s Englewood Neighborhood
Englewood seniors share what they need to age in place and pass their homes to the next generation to build wealth.
Sustaining Affordable Rents and Homeownership: Insights from Building Owners in Chicago’s Pilsen Neighborhood
Multi-unit building owners from in and around Pilsen share with us what they need to maintain their buildings and keep rent affordable.
Maryland’s Longevity Plan: How One State Could Help Redefine Aging in America
With federal cuts looming, Mark Swartz explores Maryland’s bold aging plan focused on care, housing, and economic opportunity.
Beth Macy Explores how to Bridge Divides in Families Fractured by Angry Politics
Journalist Beth Macy talks with Brigid Schulte about her new memoir, "Paper Girl," and what she learned returning to her hometown of Urbana, Ohio — where family, political division, and the collapse o…
Closer to the Pain, Closer to Solutions: On Paid Leave, States Are Showing Us the Way
National paid family and medical leave is the goal, but in the meantime, state policy innovations and improvements provide evidence and hope
Completing the Housing Innovation Loop: From Policy to Product Entrepreneurs
To translate policy progress into built homes, we need innovators developing repeatable, scalable systems.
Tax Land, Not Buildings, to Spur Development
If you want less of something, tax it. That's why easing taxes on buildings can help cities grow.
Holding It Together: Filmmaker Cameron Kit on Women, Work, and the Child Care Crisis
A woman with a long ponytail, wearing black leggings, and a black sweatshirt, pulls an orange cart through a hardware store aisle sto…
Child Care Reporting Grants: Frequently Asked Questions
Better Life Lab reporting grants frequently asked questions.
Inaugural Eviction Data Response Network Convening Highlights Tenacity of State and Local Champions
The EDRN convening reinforced that localities need more resources and support for their critical data-driven eviction prevention work.
Closing Early Intervention Service Gaps to Infants is Both Policy and Practice
Automatic eligibility policies can help serve more infants and families with EI, but implementation is critical.
Feminist Urbanism and the Housing Crisis: A Q&A with Lo Sontag
Feminist urban critic Lo Sontag speaks with Helen Bonnyman of Future of Land and Housing about creative tools to make housing affordable.