The Affordable Housing Reader
The Affordable Housing Reader

Author: Elizabeth J. Mueller

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-07-14

Total Pages: 568

ISBN-13: 1000594823

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This second edition of The Affordable Housing Reader provides context for current discussions surrounding housing policy, emphasizing the values and assumptions underlying debates over strategies for ameliorating housing problems experienced by low-income residents and communities of color. The authors highlighted in this updated volume address themes central to housing as an area of social policy and to understanding its particular meaning in the United States. These include the long history of racial exclusion and the role that public policy has played in racializing access to decent housing and well-serviced neighborhoods; the tension between the economic and social goals of housing policy; and the role that housing plays in various aspects of the lives of low- and moderate-income residents. Scholarship and the COVID-19 pandemic are raising awareness of the link between access to adequate housing and other rights and opportunities. This timely reader focuses attention on the results of past efforts and on the urgency of reframing the conversation. It is both an exciting time to teach students about the evolution of United States’ housing policy and a challenging time to discuss what policymakers or practitioners can do to effect positive change. This reader is aimed at students, professors, researchers, and professionals of housing policy, public policy, and city planning.

Federal Housing Assistance
Federal Housing Assistance

Author: Stanley J. Czerwinski

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2002-08

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 9780756724849

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In FY 1999, about 5.2 million low- and very-low-income households received about $28.7 billion in Fed. housing assist. through more than a dozen programs, yet almost 9 mill. other very-low-income household still have serious housing needs. This report: describes characteristics of the housing provided under the 6 active housing assist. programs; estimates the per-unit-cost of each of these programs; computes the portion of each program's per-unit cost paid by the Fed. gov't., tenants, and others (state, local, and private sources); and identifies public policy issues raised by this study, taking into account tradeoffs between the programs' costs and qualitative differences. Charts and tables.

Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States
Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States

Author: National Bureau of Economic Research

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2003-10-15

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 9780226533568

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Few United States government programs are as controversial as those designed to aid the poor. From tax credits to medical assistance, aid to needy families is surrounded by debate—on what benefits should be offered, what forms they should take, and how they should be administered. The past few decades, in fact, have seen this debate lead to broad transformations of aid programs themselves, with Aid to Families with Dependent Children replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the Earned Income Tax Credit growing from a minor program to one of the most important for low-income families, and Medicaid greatly expanding its eligibility. This volume provides a remarkable overview of how such programs actually work, offering an impressive wealth of information on the nation's nine largest "means-tested" programs—that is, those in which some test of income forms the basis for participation. For each program, contributors describe origins and goals, summarize policy histories and current rules, and discuss the recipient's characteristics as well as the different types of benefits they receive. Each chapter then provides an overview of scholarly research on each program, bringing together the results of the field's most rigorous statistical examinations. The result is a fascinating portrayal of the evolution and current state of means-tested programs, one that charts a number of shifts in emphasis—the decline of cash assistance, for instance, and the increasing emphasis on work. This exemplary portrait of the nation's safety net will be an invaluable reference for anyone interested in American social policy.

The Failed Federalism of Affordable Housing
The Failed Federalism of Affordable Housing

Author: Noah Kazis

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This Article uncovers a critical disjuncture in our system of providing affordable rental housing. At the federal level, the oldest, fiercest debate in low-income housing policy is between project-based and tenant-based subsidies: should the government help build new affordable housing projects or help renters afford homes on the private market? But at the state and local level, it is as if this debate never took place. The federal government (following most experts) employs both strategies, embracing tenant-based assistance as more cost-effective and offering tenants greater choice and mobility. But this Article shows that state and local housing voucher programs are rare, small, and limited to special populations. States and cities almost exclusively provide project-based rental assistance. They move in lockstep despite disparate market conditions and political demands: project-based spending overwhelmingly predominates in states that are liberal or conservative and high- or low-rent. States have done so across decades of increased spending. This uniform subnational approach suggests an unhealthy federalism: neither efficient nor experimental. This Article further diagnoses why states have made this unusual choice, identifying four primary culprits: 1) fiscally-constrained states use project-based models to minimize painful cuts during recessions; 2) incomplete federal housing subsidies inadvertently incentivize project-based spending; 3) the interest groups involved in financing and constructing affordable housing are relatively more powerful subnationally; and 4) rental assistance's unusual, lottery-like nature elevates the value of visible spending over cost-effectiveness. Finally, this Article points a path towards reform. Taking a federalist perspective allows for a new understanding of federal housing statutes. Better cooperative models could accept states' limitations in providing rental assistance--and exploit their strengths.