Housing:Federal Policies: Federal Policies and Programmes - Softcover

Weicher, John C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0844733784 ISBN 13: 9780844733784

Publisher: Aei Press, 1980

Synopsis

Housing: Federal Policies and Programs, by John C. Weicher, focuses on the two main purposes of government housing policy: enabling the poor to live in decent housing and increasing the opportunities for homeownership for lower- and middle-income groups. The author reviews the programs devised to improve the housing of the poor since 1937 and finds that the long-standing emphasis on building new housing has been inordinately expensive. The typical public housing apartment now costs almost as much as the typical new home, and the monthly subsidies, if given directly to the poor, would enable them to rent virtually any privately built new apartment. The author concludes that most of the poor can find decent housing at much lower cost in existing privately owned housing.

Homeownership is popularly thought to be a "fading dream" for many American families, but the author finds that, in fact, homeownership has been increasing rapidly. He evaluates a number of proposals intended to make homeownership more accessible and concludes that most of them would provide subsidies to families that can afford to buy homes and, indeed, are already doing so in substantial numbers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aei Press
• Publication date: 1980
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0844733784
• ISBN 13: 9780844733784
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168