Property tax reassessments have real consequences for homeowners and communities. In Preparing for Change: How Allegheny County’s Property Assessment Will Affect Homeowners and Communities, in partnership with Reinvestment Fund and Center for Economic Policy Analysis, May 8 examines what impact tax increases will have on Allegheny County Pennsylvania households whose homes may have doubled in … Continue reading Preparing for Change: How Allegheny County’s Property Assessment Will Affect Homeowners and Communities
News Archive
Who Holds the Power? How One Corridor Flipped the Script on Development
An October 2025 Shelterforce article by Karen Black and Adriana Abizadeh-Barbour looks at how the Kensington Corridor Trust is building local control through collective ownership of commercial and residential properties.
Home Repair Needs Assessments
We are working with cities and counties to preserve low-income homeownership, prevent displacement and help Seniors to age in place. A May 8 Home Repair Needs Assessment quantifies who is currently being served with home repair assistance, estimates the level of unmet need and presents recommendations to build a more resilient, effective and equitable home … Continue reading Home Repair Needs Assessments
Keynote at ReFrame Conference November 12, 2025
Karen Black gave the keynote address at the upcoming Coalition for Home Repair Conference! The focus of the keynote is on home repair as a strategy to preserve privately owned affordable housing. View the presentation that provoked an important conversation about how cities can better invest in preserving the homes people already live in.
Condominium Housing Model Suffers from Public Policy Blindspots
Read our policy brief about the inherent weaknesses in the condominium model that must be resolved to provide affordable and long-term viable ownership opportunities.
Kensington Corridor Trust: The First Four Years
This City Case explores the first four years of the Kensington Corridor Trust (KCT). KCT is a neighborhood trust started in 2019 whose mission is to acquire and redevelop real estate on a disinvested commercial corridor and place it into long-term community control to preserve culture and affordability while building neighborhood power and wealth. KCT … Continue reading Kensington Corridor Trust: The First Four Years
Tennessee Preemption Law Reversed
May 8 has had the extraordinary opportunity to work with the City of Chattanooga’s Chief Housing Officer Nicole Heyman since 2022 to create the city’s first comprehensive policy, program and funding framework to address its affordable housing challenges. Chattanooga is making extraordinary progress understanding and responding to its sizable housing deficit. Yet Tennessee state law … Continue reading Tennessee Preemption Law Reversed
Evaluating the Impact of Critical Home Repairs on the Wealth and Financial Well-Being of Low-Income Black Homeowners in Richmond Virginia: A Mixed Methods Study
This study seeks to determine the causal effect that critical home repairs have on the preservation of Black wealth in neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement. May 8 is working with the Partnership for Housing Affordability in Richmond Virginia with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Utilizing data obtained from surveys conducted among low-income Black households … Continue reading Evaluating the Impact of Critical Home Repairs on the Wealth and Financial Well-Being of Low-Income Black Homeowners in Richmond Virginia: A Mixed Methods Study
Working with NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab
May 8 has been working with NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab since 2022 to develop innovative and equitable local housing solutions for 16 cities. The program aims to help city leaders advance effective housing policies that promote racial equity; increase access to opportunity; and improve health and well-being for residents. May 8 engages with … Continue reading Working with NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab
Designing a New Federal Reserve Bank Housing Pilot
Starting in June 2023, May 8 has been working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia as they design and pilot a new program to expand local capacity to implement tactical next steps to increase housing access for low- to moderate-income households. May 8 facilitated focus groups with stakeholders to explore local housing needs, challenges … Continue reading Designing a New Federal Reserve Bank Housing Pilot
Equitable Development Platform Released
May 8 is proud to partner with PACDC on a new Equitable Development Policy Platform that is founded on the truth that we all deserve a city in which affordable housing, work that pays a living wage, and safe neighborhoods are attainable for every resident.
How To Design Programs for Equitable, Effective Neighborhood Stabilization?
If you missed my session at the Community Progress Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Chicago on September 8th, here is the presentation I gave with my amazing co-presenters Emily Dowdall, Reinvestment Fund and Christa Stoneham, Houston Land Bank.
Can You Create a Culture of Property Maintenance in your Community?
Topeka Kansas is working with May 8 to reduce vacant and deteriorating properties, abandoned vehicles and illegal dumping as its first step toward safe and healthy neighborhoods.
Philadelphia Rental Code Enforcement Report
Take a deep dive into Philadelphia’s system for ensuring rental housing is in “good repair, structurally sound and in sanitary condition” and compare it to nine peer cities.
Just Released Report: Evidence-Based Policy Making: An Analysis of Six Strategies to Stabilize Neighborhoods
New Fannie Mae report provides helpful research on what policy interventions local governments commonly use actually work to stabilize low-income and middle neighborhoods.
Join us online for the Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress Housing Forum “A Housing Crisis: Finding a Place to Call Home” on October 26th.
Karen Black will be presenting “Preserving Aging Housing Key to a Growing Housing Supply” to start off the conference on October 26th at 9am.
The Power to Stabilize Neighborhoods: Research on the Impact of Policy Interventions on Low-Income and Middle Neighborhoods After a Macroeconomic Shock: A Post-2008 Literature Review
If you are seeking tools to stabilize neighborhoods after the COVID economic downturn, we recommend you take a look at this literature review May 8 Consulting just released. May 8 brings together critical research by scholars and practitioners defining how tools like demolition, code enforcement, land banks and First Look programs may impact different neighborhood … Continue reading The Power to Stabilize Neighborhoods: Research on the Impact of Policy Interventions on Low-Income and Middle Neighborhoods After a Macroeconomic Shock: A Post-2008 Literature Review
Watch Center for Community Progress webinar on prioritizing home repair
Prioritizing Repair Support for Financially Struggling Property Owners April 22, 2021 12:00 – 1:00pm ET | Watch Now Property maintenance was already a challenge for many low-income homeowners prior to today’s heightened unemployment crisis and rising construction costs. These circumstances amplify the need for communities to create, enhance, and expand necessary programming to assist vulnerable property … Continue reading Watch Center for Community Progress webinar on prioritizing home repair
Presentation to Toledo City Council on Strategic and Equitable Code Enforcement
Center for Community Progress and May 8 presented to Toledo City Council on March 24, 2021 on how to achieve more strategic and equitable code enforcement. See report, presentation and local media coverage.
What Works
At May 8 we are big fans of the What Works series of books that come out of Case Western Reserve University and share practical evidence-based guidance on community development practices that work. See our chapter on creating equitable mixed-income neighborhoods that is about to be published in their latest volume.
Anchor-Led Innovation City Case (Winter 2021)
Take a moment to read this in depth City Case co-authored by Karen Black and Bruce Katz exploring how the Cortex Innovation District evolved from a blighted 200 acre former St. Louis industrial site in 2002 to a 6,000 employee economic hub generating $2.1 billion in economic output by 2018.