With more than half of its tenants burdened by soaring rents, Chicago considers rent control
By Mina Bloom and Ariel Cheung Photography by Sebastián Hidalgo Lesley Gonzalez grew up in Chicago’s historically Latino neighborhood [...]
Eulogy for the Cleveland Tenants Organization from a Cleveland Landlord
By Bert Stratton Photo by Maddie McGarvey The Cleveland Tenants Organization, after 43 years of advocating for Cleveland renters, shut [...]
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, thousands of Puerto Ricans have sought refuge in Chicago. Here’s what one woman had to navigate to get her family settled.
By Martha Bayne Photography by Michelle Kanaar Support for this article was provided by Rise Local, a project of New [...]
Documenting the ‘Opioid Migrants’ of Chicago: A photo essay by Lloyd DeGrane
VIEW SLIDESHOW Last year, there were 581 opioid overdose deaths in the City of Chicago, representing [...]
Thoughts of a Lonely Man: A poem by a resident of Lower Wacker Drive
By Gregory D. Smith Photograph by Lloyd DeGrane Walking these crowded streets Feeling like I’m always in court Being judged [...]
In Today’s Ohio, ‘Home Rule’ Is Not About Cities Being Self-Governed; It’s Cover For State Officials Moving Economic Growth To The Exurbs
By Tom Bier Photo by Maddie McGarvey In my new book, Housing Dynamics in Northeast Ohio: Setting the Stage for [...]
Eminent Domain, Ruined Farmland, Crony Capitalism: Racine County Braces For Foxconn
Apple Holler is an 80-acre pick-your-own orchard destination just off of Interstate 94 in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, about midpoint on the main highway connecting Milwaukee and Chicago’s northern suburbs.
Radical Suburbs by Amanda Kolson Hurley, A New Book from Belt Publishing forthcoming in 2019
We all think we know what the suburbs are like: affluent, conservative, orderly, and a bit dull. To describe a [...]
Beyond ‘White Flight’
What the history of one Cleveland neighborhood can teach us about race and housing inequality.
Refugees In The Rust Belt
While the USA wrestles with the politics and policies of immigration and refugees, Belt presents nine moving essays about refugees living throughout the Rust Belt…
Poppin’ The Rag: from Louis Stokes’ The Gentleman From Ohio
When I was twelve years old my paper route took me all through the area around Sixty-Ninth and Cedar in the heart of Cleveland's black neighborhood, where my younger brother Carl and I lived on the first floor of a rickety old house with our mom, Louise, and our grandmother, Fannie Stone.
Building An Art House In Pittsburgh
A few years ago, Vanessa German sat on her front porch working on the sculptures for which she’s become well known -- complex black Madonnas made of found objects.