Housing Policy in America

Land, Shelter, & Social Justice

America needs a real housing policy

Robert C. Weaver w/ President Lyndon B. Johnson. Weaver was the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, created in 1965, an agency created to address America’s affordable housing issues — Public Domain

Where is America’s affordable housing policy or plan?

In America, millions of people can barely afford housing. This is especially so when it comes to the basic level of housing — rental housing.

As the prices to purchase housing have recently shot through the roof (over the last few years), rental housing has been unaffordable for decades. The primary reason for this is America’s lack of a coherent housing policy.

This lack of commitment to real housing policy, with goals, objectives, and with some consideration of the challenges for ordinary Americans has to be addressed in the near future.

Life of a housing advocate

I am a long-time tenant lawyer. I have advocated for low to moderate-income Americans in courts, city council chambers, government agencies, and even the U.S. Congress. Housing is a serious challenge in the U.S. Most of us are so busy doing our work and trying to maintain our lives, we rarely see the big picture.

Currently, after nearly three decades practicing housing law in various parts of the country and teaching the law of it, I now teach…