CYPLAN 110
.docx
School
University of California, Berkeley**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
CY PLAN 110
Subject
Economics
Date
Dec 17, 2024
Pages
1
Uploaded by GrandRedPanda4746
Has American housing always been in crisis?Throughout America’s history, housing has always been a fluctuating anomaly, and is consistently influenced by a variety of social, economic, and political factors. With periods like the Great Depression, where severe unemployment caused mass homelessness, and the 2008 Financial Crisis, where the housing bubble collapsed and home values substantially fell, and just overall urbanization, discriminatory practices, and differences in housing supply and demand, have always kept American housing in a malleable state.“The Crisis in America’s Housing: Confronting Myths and Promoting a Balanced Housing Policy”confirms this notion of American housing always being something of a risk, and emphasizes how this risk has only gone up with time. The study describes three facts: “incomes are not keeping up with rising costs of renting/purchasing/maintaining decent housing/basic needs….federal subsidies for homeownership exceed those for public and subsidized housing….[and] now, more than at any time in recent memory, housing is an investment with risk.” The study continues to lay out severe problems in American housing; for example, only 5% of all Americans live in government subsidized housing, and of those 5%, 55% of them still live in unaffordable, inadequate, or uncomfortable situations. Additionally, for low income households, rental affordability has declined since 1970, most likely due to rising inflation and economic turnarounds. On top of this, these subsidies are under-funded and disproportionately go to higher-income households. Finally, mentioning the risk of homeownership, home prices have increased 40% above inflation since 1995 which has a high risk for another severe market failure and serious losses.American housing always had problems. This can be traced to something in every period, such as redlining and additional racially motivated practices. Nearly a third of all Americans experience housing problems, and with its genuine risk, this market will always be somewhat in crisis.
