ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an understanding of the workings of the low-income market as one step toward the development of an analytical framework within which various housing policies can be evaluated. It explains the importance of management and discusses some of its major components from the standpoint of both business and social relations. A common place theme of several housing studies is the phenomenon of abandonments or walkaways as an owner response to the declining inner-city market. A special dimension of the low-rent housing market, and a partial explanation of inner-city decay, has to do with so-called problem tenants–families and individuals who have lost the incentive to maintain their residential environment. In Baltimore’s inner city, however, there is a fair degree of concentration of ownership among professionals who hold a large number of units. The notion that owners of low-rent inner-city properties earn exorbitant profits persists in the face of a large body of contrary evidence.
