ABSTRACT
Housing crises are a regular feature of capitalism. They have been devastating both rural and urban populations at least since the middle of the eighteenth century in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Based on this historical record, it is clear that some crises lead to citizenship transformation and some do not. Why? Under what circumstances? What might explain such differences? In this essay, I consider these questions in relation to several historical and contemporary examples. In terms of the latter, I bring into contrast two cases: the kind of housing crises predominant in many cities of the Global South that have produced remarkable transformations of citizenship in recent decades, with the kind currently ravaging the United States that is just as remarkable for having failed to do so.
