The Big Idea: Social Housing
Nearly half of U.S. renters struggle to make rent. Social housing offers a permanently affordable solution for working people.
J. Patrick Patterson
so•cial hous•ing
noun
1. permanently affordable housing run as a public good rather than a profit center
What makes it “social”?
“Social” as in “addressing the needs of society.” With nearly half of U.S. renters already rent-burdened (spending more than 30% of their income on rent), and profit-hungry developers spurring rampant gentrification, social housing would allow people to stay in their homes regardless of market fluctuations.
Don’t we already have affordable housing?
Affordable housing — which typically involves giving tax breaks to real estate developers — isn’t working so well. The open secret is that, all too often, it isn’t actually “affordable.” Nearly 40% of tenants using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, for example — the largest federal program subsidizing affordable housing — are still rent-burdened, and the subsidy doesn’t require homes to be permanently “affordable,” leaving renters vulnerable to eviction.
As Peter Dreier explains in The American Prospect: “The quest to provide what has come to be called ‘affordable housing’ in America is hobbled by one fundamental reality. Too much housing is in the market sector and too little is in a social sector permanently protected from rising prices.”
What about public housing?
Social advocates say that the way public housing was implemented actually served to deepen segregation and concentrate poverty. They want to save what’s left of public housing from privatization efforts but promote a much broader vision of housing as a public good.
Where has social housing worked?
In Vienna, around 60% of the population lives in social housing. About 80% of residents qualify under the income limit, and once someone has a contract, they can keep it — even if they start making more money.
While the U.S. real estate industry has spent millions of dollars lobbying against tenant protections, there is a growing movement for social housing. Seattle voters, for example, recently approved a new tax on wealthy businesses to fund their newly established social housing development authority.
This is part of “The Big Idea,” a series offering brief introductions to progressive theories, policies, tools and strategies that can help us envision a world beyond capitalism.
J. Patrick Patterson is the Associate Editor at In These Times. He has previously worked as a politics editor, copy editor, fact-checker and reporter. His writing on economic policies and electoral politics has been published in numerous outlets.
