What is your housing situation?  We want to hear from you.

What is your housing situation? We want to hear from you.

“No society can be fully understood outside the homes of its members. »

I have this quote (from “Crabgrass border“, the defining story of the American suburbs) stuck on a wall behind my desk. It sums up why I love covering housing for The New York Times and never seems to run out of things to write about. Housing is everything. This is where we live and raise our families. It is most people’s greatest store of wealth. Whether you own, rent, or sleep outside, where you turn your head defines a large part of your existence.

Over the past few decades, and especially since the pandemic, housing has gone from being a symbol of American strength to becoming a daily crisis. Aspiring homeowners become permanent tenants. People live in increasingly overcrowded housing, illegal housing supply has emerged and homeless camps have multiplied. People are fleeing expensive states for cheaper ones – which has created housing problems in the cities where they end up.

New opportunities have also emerged: the rise of the home office has allowed many people to move into cheaper property markets and has prompted a number of families to abandon their 9 to 5 and redevelop their property or to become owners. In California and elsewhere, the legalization of backyard homes has encouraged a number of homeowners to become developers by creating small rental units on their properties.

Over the past several years, I’ve covered virtually every aspect of the U.S. housing crisis, from the officials trying to tackle it in the states to the people suffering its consequences. I write about renters and landlords, developers and environmentalists, public and private housing – and even an attempt to build a new city from scratch.

My stories cover a variety of topics and come from all over the country, but the common thread is that they are rooted in the stories of the people and places within them. That’s why I want to hear from you. I want to know what types of housing pressures you are facing and how they have affected your life, your family, your friends and your 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 have read all the submissions. I also always come back to ask more questions and make sure I have the facts straight before posting anything. I will not publish anything without your explicit permission, and I will not 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.