ABSTRACT
In its preamble to the 1949 Housing Act, Congress declared its goal of “a decent home in a suitable living environment for every American family.” In the 60 years since this legislation was passed, the federal government has helped fund the construction and rehabilitation of more than 5 million housing units for low-income households and provided rental vouchers to nearly 2 million additional families. Yet, the nation’s housing problems remain acute. In 2005, 42 million households lived in physically defi cient housing, spent 30% or more of their income on housing, or were homeless (HUD 2007, 2009n). Put diff erently, about 100 million Americans-almost 35% of the nation’s population and more than double the number lacking health insuranceconfronted serious housing problems or had no housing at all (U.S. Census Bureau 2008a).1
