Housing America: Building Out of a Crisis

Housing policy not only affects all Americans’ quality oflife, but has a direct impact on their financial well being.About 70 percent of American households own their ownhomes, and for most, their homes represent the majorityof their net worth. Renters are affected by housing policy.Even the small minority of Americans who are homelessare affected by housing policies specifically targeted tolow-income individuals.The government’s increasing involvement in housingmarkets, fed by popular demand that government"dosomething" to address real problems of mortgage defaultsand loans, provides good reason to take a new look at thepublic sector in housing markets. Crises in prime mortgagelending may lower the cost of housing, but the poor andhomeless cannot benefit because of increases in unemployment.Even the private market is heavily regulated. Governmentpolicies dictate whether people can build newhousing on their land, what type of housing they can build,the terms allowed in rental contracts, and much more.This volume considers the effects of government housingpolicies and what can be done to make them workbetter. It shows that many problems are the result of governmentrules and regulations. Even in a time of foreclosures,the market can still do a crucial a job of allocating resources,just as it does in other markets. Consequently, the appropriatepolicy response may well be to significantly reduce, notincrease, government presence in housing markets. HousingAmerica is a courageous and comprehensive effort toexamine housing policies in the United States and to showhow such policies affect the housing market.