He works as an international consultant on creating livable neighborhoods and cities, owns a real estate company that renovates historic housing, and is a professor of urban and public affairs at the University of Louisville.
His godfather was Dave Lewis, a Stanford University writing professor who was the co-author of Klute, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1970.
His uncle Clarence W. Gilderbloom was a respected inventor involved in developing patents for early versions of the dishwasher and a motorized Lazy Boy recliner.
Another influential relative, Gilderbloom's distant aunt Hanneke Gelderblom, was known as "the Anne Frank that lived" and was featured in the documentary Sex, Drugs, and Democracy.
In high school, Gilderbloom worked with protest groups against the Vietnam War, for environmental awareness following the Santa Barbara Oil Spill, and Cesar Chavez in the local Grape Boycott.
The Foundation for National Progress (Mother Jones) published an organizing manual, Rent Control: A Source Book which was adopted by the emerging tenant movement in the 1980s.
Orange County's The Register called it the "Bible" of the rent control movement and it received both praise and attacks from The Nation, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
"[2] Gilderbloom worked with Mitch Snyder, founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless, to block President Ronald Reagan from prohibiting federal funds to cities who have enacted rent control.
He co-authored a study demonstrating that rent control was not correlated with increases in the homeless population,[6] refuting William Tucker's research.
Gilderbloom has written and edited five books and countless articles on issues concerning rental housing, poverty, health, community development, and urban policy.
The East Russel Partnership, a collaboration between local organizations; city, state, and federal government; and the Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods received the Sierra Club's Best Practices Award, given for smart growth projects for their success in West Louisville.
[19] He has also worked with cities to produce "green housing developments" in Louisville, Indianapolis, Muncie, IN; Covington, KY; and Newport, KY. Gilderbloom has restored 10 historic homes as a part of his business, one of which has been featured in The New York Times[20] and been the set of the movie The Song.