“No society might be totally 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 like masking housing for The New York Occasions and appear by no means to expire of issues to put in writing about. Housing is all the pieces. It’s the place we dwell 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 cling your head defines a lot of your existence.

Over the previous few a long time, and particularly for the reason that pandemic, housing has gone from an emblem of American energy to an on a regular basis disaster. Aspiring owners have gotten perpetually renters. Folks dwell 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 workplaces has allowed many individuals to relocate to cheaper housing markets and prompted various households to stop their 9 to 5s and redevelop property or change into landlords. In California and elsewhere, the legalization of yard properties has impressed various owners to change into builders by creating small rental models on their properties.

For the previous a number of years, I’ve coated just about each side of America’s housing disaster, from the general public officers attempting to deal with it in statehouses to the folks 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 group. And I wish to know what tales or matters you suppose want extra consideration. The articles I write are impressed by the tales folks 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 received’t publish something with out your specific permission, and I received’t use your contact data for some other function or share it outdoors the newsroom. If you want to submit data anonymously, please go to our suggestions web page.