“No society could be absolutely understood aside from the residences of its members.”

I’ve that quote (from “Crabgrass Frontier,” the seminal historical past of America’s suburbs) taped to a wall behind my desk. It summarizes why I really like protecting housing for The New York Instances and appear by no means to expire of issues to put in writing about. Housing is every little thing. It’s the place we reside and lift our households. It’s most individuals’s largest retailer of wealth. Whether or not you personal, you hire, otherwise you sleep outdoors, the place you grasp your head defines a lot of your existence.

Over the previous few many years, and particularly because the pandemic, housing has gone from an emblem of American power to an on a regular basis disaster. Aspiring owners have gotten endlessly renters. Individuals reside in more and more crowded households, the provision of unlawful housing has surged and homeless camps have multiplied. Persons are fleeing costly states for cheaper ones — which has in flip created housing issues within the cities the place they find yourself.

There have additionally been new alternatives: The rise of at-home places of work has allowed many individuals to relocate to cheaper housing markets and prompted a lot of households to stop their 9 to 5s and redevelop property or turn into landlords. In California and elsewhere, the legalization of yard houses has impressed a lot of owners to turn into builders by creating small rental items on their properties.

For the previous a number of years, I’ve lined just about each facet of America’s housing disaster, from the general public officers attempting to deal with it in statehouses to the individuals dwelling its penalties. I write about tenants in addition to landlords, builders in addition to environmentalists, public housing in addition to personal — even an try to construct a brand new metropolis from scratch.

My tales vary in subject and are available from across the nation, however the widespread thread is that they’re rooted within the accounts of individuals and the locations that make them. Which is why I wish to hear from you. I wish to know what sorts of housing pressures you might be coping with and the way they’ve affected your life, household, friendships and neighborhood. And I wish to know what tales or matters you assume want extra consideration. The articles I write are impressed by the tales individuals inform me.

I learn all submissions. I additionally at all times attain again out to ask extra questions and ensure I’ve bought my details proper earlier than I publish something. I gained’t publish something with out your specific permission, and I gained’t use your contact info for some other objective or share it outdoors the newsroom. If you want to submit info anonymously, please go to our ideas web page.