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America's Housing Crisis Essay

1622 Words7 Pages

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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