Introduction

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 more than 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 lowincome households and provided rental vouchers to nearly 2 million additional families. Yet, the nation’s housing problems remain acute. In 2011, 49.8 million households lived in physically defi cient housing, spent 30% or more of their income on housing, or were homeless (U.S. Census Bureau 2013; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2012). Put diff erently, about 125 million Americansaround 40% of the nation’s population and far more than double the 48.6 million lacking health insurance in 2011 (Todd  & Sommers 2012)—confronted serious housing problems or had no housing at all. 1

Th is book tells the story of how the United States has tried to address the nation’s housing problems. It looks at the primary policies and programs designed to make decent and aff ordable housing available to Americans of modest means. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of these policies and programs and the challenges that still remain. Th e book takes a broad view of housing policy, focusing not only on specifi c housing subsidy programs, such as public housing, but also on the federal income tax code and regulations aff ecting mortgage lending, land use decisions, real estate transactions, and other activities integral to the housing market. Some of these broader aspects of housing policy provide fi nancial incentives for investments in aff ordable housing, others attempt to make housing available to low-income and minority households and communities by penalizing discriminatory practices and through other regulatory interventions.