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America's Housing Crisis Essay

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Addressing the Root Causes of America’s Housing Crisis The housing crisis is a growing epidemic today, affecting millions of people across the United States. The housing crisis is a result of several factors such as high housing costs, lack of affordable housing, and homelessness. This essay explores the cause and effect of the housing crisis in America, as well as potential solutions to address this social issue using the apocalyptic thinking method by Robert Jensen. Jensen’s method of apocalyptic thinking is about acknowledging that our current systems and structures are unsustainable and will inevitably lead to collapse (Jensen, 2013). This approach can be directly used when looking at the housing crisis in America, where the current housing system is unsustainable and requires radical change. The financialization of housing is a primary cause of the housing crisis. After the Great Recession in 2008, many investors saw an opportunity to profit from the houses that were foreclosed. These investors began to purchase the homes that had recently been foreclosed and rent them out. This caused a major increase in rental …show more content…

According to Income Inequalities in America, Analysis of Trends by Paul Ryscavage, “economists who study the income distribution nearly all agree that it [income disparities] has grown more unequal in recent years” (Ryscavage, 1999, p. 3). This means that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. If there is a higher income inequality, that means that there is less equal income distribution. The number has increased in recent years, which means that there is a greater unequal distribution of wealth. This causes more people to not be able to afford housing, and even today, there is a massive gap between the rich and the poor. Some of the richest people make more than they will ever need, while people at the bottom of the spectrum struggle to find food and make ends

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The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) introduced long-term mortgage and guaranteed to lenders with low interest rate and extended payment period. The number of Americans who could purchase homes increased and Jackson pointed out how the American way of life transformed, which is to buy a home than to rent. It is said that “today, renters account for one-third of all households, suburbs house far more people than cities, and affordability has supplanted physical deficiency as the primary housing problem (Schwartz 2015, 17).” However, the HOLC and FHA excluded the black population such that the HOLC appraisal and rating system assessed neighborhoods with black inhabitants to be hazardous and the FHA concerned about white-black separation in terms of the investment values (201, 208). FHA helped the building industry to turn against the minority and inner-city housing market and its policies supported the income and racial segregation of suburbia (213).

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While this is not the whole reason why we had so many people trashing places, it didn 't help. For this is why I disagree with the comment that it is nobody 's fault but the person who bought the house. There is some blame sharing that needs to go around on that issue. That 's okay; we will be talking about this again soon with the automotive loans. I lost count of the number of new car tags

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Throughout the book, tenants are exploited in the quality of shelter, rental cost, justice system, and discriminative segregation. The quality of shelter and rental costs are exploited issues which reappear. Since the tenants experienced a history of evictions, they are trapped in a system of housing inequality. Furthermore, the tenants settle for what they’re accepted to, and landlords are given no incentive to update the properties. As a result, housing is poor, and

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The rising cost of housing in the bay area has made affordable housing harder and harder to come about. This is a situation where the city of Palo Alto does not have enough affordable housing to meet the needs of its population. To fix the situation instead of creating additional affordable housing venues is sticking the Jissers with the bill of providing affordable housing. The reason I chose this article is that it shows that the “system” doesn't work neither the Jissers are at fault nor are the tenants. This is a situation where the city of Palo Alto messed up and now are trying to pen the blame on some private

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Matthew Desmond’s book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, reveals the dire reality of renting leading to evictions and poverty by telling the stories of multiple people. There are multiple issues within this topic that Desmond focuses on such as discrimination. Desmond tells the stories of people from different backgrounds, of different genders, and of different races. The book is all about poverty, human nature, human relationships, and human hopes. Due to the nature of this book, it is crucial that the events are examined through a socio-cultural lens.

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In the present era, the United States continues to face a major crisis of homelessness and evictions. Harry Truman’s national objective during the mid-1900s of ensuring “the achievement of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family” is still a dream for many Americans today. This issue caught my attention after reading Matthew Desmond’s book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, where he explains the impact that evictions have had in African American communities. In the most segregated cities, it is common for poor families to be spending as must as 80 percent of their income in trailer parks and houses in poor conditions, where landlords may end up evicting their tenants instead of making reparations

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The pursuit of affordable housing has emerged as a paramount issue in recent years, transcending geographical boundaries and socioeconomic disparities. As individuals and families grapple with the challenge of securing suitable accommodation within budgetary constraints, it becomes imperative to explore a diverse array of strategies tailored to the unique challenges of the 2024-2025 housing market. While conventional avenues such as foreclosures and pre-foreclosures are often considered in discussions of affordability, a comprehensive approach acknowledges the need for a broader spectrum of solutions. This essay endeavors to delve into various strategies for attaining affordable housing in the current market landscape, emphasizing the critical

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1516 Words | 7 Pages

These impacts caused by direct state-led gentrification can lead to negative effects on the locals and the relationships between each other. Due to the rise in expenses of living in neighborhoods experiencing gentrification, residents may find it demanding to pay for their basic needs such as housing which can ultimately lead to displacement from their property. Residents often find that the more affordable housing for them in the neighborhood becomes inadequate or overcrowded causing them to move to areas that have not been affected by state-led gentrification, therefore cheaper but further away from their original home. In an area undergoing gentrification, private renters especially, have a lack of control over the untenable level increase of rent causing the eviction of current residents to be able to renovate properties that will attract high-income residents who are in a position to pay the increased prices. This process of gentrification is labeled as second-wave gentrification which is developed by the state government's decisions, involves the construction of new houses on redeveloped sites, and creates a demographic mix of the upper and lower class (Bounds & Morris, 2006).

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The prices of homes are rising so it makes it harder to find a decent home at an affordable price. Steve Brandt argues that “Advocates for the homeless blame the lingering effects of the Great Recession and soaring rents,“ (Homelessness increases despite the decade-long push to end it in Minneapolis, Hennepin County 1). In other words, people may start to think that homelessness may have something to do with expensive rents and the Great Recession. Such a statement proves that there is this definitely a problem. If people realize the rising prices could be making it harder to find a home that they can afford, then it is an issue.

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1078 Words | 5 Pages

Starting in the 1980s, successive governments encouraged local authorities to sell off social housing, which has not been replaced. The private construction sector has so far failed to increase supply in response to soaring demand("Simon Communities in Ireland > Homelessness > Causes of Homelessness," n.d.). Step Five: Recommend and Implement Solutions IT sounds overly-simplistic, but the ¬solution to solving Ireland’s accommodation crisis is to build more houses and apartments.

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Obviously, change doesn’t come easy, and in California, there is resistance and the challenge therein is to overcome the barriers presently, whether political, cultural, regulatory or even economic, if these challenges were to be overcome, then new dawn is upon the face of the state. For the last three years, studies have been piling up on the problem currently facing California. The legislature produced a 15-bill package that is meant to speed up the homebuilding process for the state which will boost affordable housing

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661 Words | 3 Pages

Based on freedom and equality, America is today the country the most unequal amongst developed countries. Today there is a very big difference between the ideal, what Americans think and the reality of the income distribution. There is only a very small share in the middle class. This is a major crisis in the United States indeed, 1 per cent of the rich have 40 per cent of the country’s wealth.

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3049 Words | 13 Pages

In areas like Park Slope, which was going through the gentrification process before the other parts of Brooklyn, was seen as an area with a lot “potential” to the middle class that was looking to work closer to the city (4). New York City also gave tax redemptions to people who lived in these areas or use these areas for private interest (4). People hearing this in the suburbs will slowly start to look to buy these houses in these areas since they will get tax redemptions and a potential to sell the houses in these areas for more they purchased making them more money. This will peak the interest for people to make more money rather than making a more livable city for all classes. This is seen in the borough of Barnsbury in London where landlords were starting to see tenants as unprofitable.

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411 Words | 2 Pages

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The dramatic housing price started in the last 1990`s in many countries like London and United Kingdom. 80,000 children are living in temporary accommodation. We can say that London housing is in a state of crisis never because they are struggling to deliver enough homes for the current population. United Kingdom has

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