ABSTRACT
The presumed rights and privileges of home ownership are embedded in the American consciousness. Based in Jeffersonian democratic ideals, the concept of private property is as fundamental to the structure of the United States as the belief in individual rights. The intense national desire for ownership of real property means that more resources (tax incentives) are used to encourage that goal, and less resources (tax outlays) are committed to the social housing sector. And at around five per cent, the size of the US social housing sector is considerably smaller than in most West European countries. More than 90 per cent of the US housing stock is privately owned and part of the market economy. This abundant supply makes it relatively easier for American families to adjust their housing circumstances to changes in needs than is true of most European countries with larger social housing sectors. Between 1985 and 1989 almost half of all of American households moved into their present homes, and approximately 18 per cent moved during 1989 alone. While renters were more than four times as likely to move as home owners, approximately 8 per cent of all owner-occupiers moved during 1989 (US Bureau of the Census 1991, 17, 20). While mobility and choice are maximised when such a large fraction of the US inventory is priced and allocated by the market mechanism, this also contributes to severe housing-cost burdens for large numbers of
low-income families, and exacerbates the problem of homelessness. According to the US Bureau of the Census, changes in either
family status or housing needs motivated 56 per cent of all renter moves and 47 per cent of all moves by owners. More than a fifth of all owner-occupiers who moved achieved their goal and became home owners in 1989, while job-related factors caused more than 20 per cent of renters and almost 16 per cent of homeowners to move (Table 5.1).
