We've just celebrated the 41st anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, which has prompted American communities to re-examine the progress that has been made in ensuring equal housing opportunity for everyone. We'll look at significant milestones, achievements, and persistent problems in the four-decade history of fair housing initiatives.

By providing scattered-site, affordable housing with neighborhood-wide impact, Bridgeton Neighborhood Revitalization (BNR) has won a 2009 HUD Secretary's Award for housing and community design. For this HOPE VI project in a historic, low-income area of the small city of Bridgeton, New Jersey, BNR carefully chose where — and where not — to build. We'll explore how BNR designed Victorian- and Craftsman-style affordable homes, placing many on former industrial sites; removed dysfunctional, unsightly public housing buildings; and established park space, reconnecting the neighborhood with the Cohansey River.

Home sharing is an affordable housing alternative in greater demand during this period of economic downturn, mortgage payment challenges, and high rates of foreclosure. Home sharing appeared as a formal component of social service programs in the 1970s, offering matching services for unrelated individuals wishing to share a home. Today, there are about 100 housemate matchup programs in the U.S. We'll look at what the Shared Housing Center of Dallas learned when it surveyed these programs and assessed its own Homeshare program performance of 20 years.