ABSTRACT
Although in terms of public expenditure governments play a minor role in housing and urban affairs in the US, they are critically important within parts of the housing market, in providing support for the private sector, and in providing protection for local communities intent on preserving the class and racial homogeneity of their neighbourhoods. Virtually all low and moderate income housing schemes receive federal subsidies; this assures federal involvement. Until about 1968, however, the federal role was passive; since then it has been more active. Between 1968 and 1976, race and housing controversy was dominated by one issue: the dispersal of low and moderate income federally subsidised housing into white areas, and particularly into the suburbs. During the 1960s federal urban policies had failed to eradicate the problems of the ghetto and the inner city, problems which, with a lower rate of economic growth and developing fiscal crises, have increasingly revealed the racial and class rift in urban areas.
