HOUSING POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES

How should we define housing? As a concept, housing is both simple and complex. As a physical concept, housing provides shelter, and it is durable and visible. Yet, housing is more than just its physical components. As a social concept, housing is a clear insignia of social status and can be an investment vehicle to accumulate and hoard wealth. Additionally, housing (and housing policy) both amplifies and reinforces larger patterns of racial and economic bias witnessed in wider society. This course examines the institutional, economic, regulatory, and political factors that affect the production, subsidization, and siting of housing in the United States. We will trace the varied policy approaches that local, state, and federal governments have leveraged to deliver affordable housing over time. Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to how U.S. housing policy historically is built on a segregationist ideology, often linking the presence of non-white and low-income households with neighborhood instability and as a threat to stable property values. We will also explore the various approaches that the public sector has pursued to attempt to undo the racially segregated housing market of its own making.

The course is divided into three sections. Part I reviews how previous scholars have defined housing, provides a brief introduction to housing policy history, and introduces the basics of supply and demand in housing markets and housing finance. Part II examines various approaches to provide affordable housing at the federal, state, and local level and how these approaches have evolved over time. Part III examines contemporary housing policy debates.

Since this class is an upper-level seminar, students should expect to read about 150 pages of reading per week and to listen to a podcast or watch a select movie on specific weeks. Students will be expected to complete all of the assigned readings before class. Class time primarily will be devoted to class discussions, so students should plan to formulate thoughts about the readings before class and to participate actively in class discussions each week.