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A Right to Housing

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A Right to Housing P1: FAW/FAW P2: FAW GRBT106-INTRO GRBT106-Bratt December 7, 2005 15:37 Char Count= 0 Rachel G. Bratt, Michael E. Stone and Chester Hartman WhyaRight to Housing Is Needed and MakesSense: Editors’ Introduction IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE that in the larger fissures between the nation’s richest and 21st century, upwards of 100 million people in most of the rest of us—but most especially the theUnitedStatesliveinhousingthatisphysically poorest among us—disparities that have a clear inadequate, in unsafe neighborhoods, over- racial dimension as well and that make true crowded or way beyond what they realistically democracy impossible. can afford. Yet it could be quite different. We Just over 60 years ago, in his 1944 State of the could and should guarantee high-quality, truly Union address to Congress, President Franklin affordablehousingin“good”neighborhoodsfor Delano Roosevelt declared that economic secu- all and thus finally achieve the National Housing rity is a necessary ingredient for a democratic Goal of “a decent home and a suitable living en- society. He further asserted that there was a need vironment for every American family,” as artic- for a whole series of economic and social rights, ulated by Congress over a half-century ago in the including a Right to Housing. This is part of his 1949 Housing Act and reaffirmed in subsequent message: legislative initiatives.1 This book embraces the view that a commitment to a Right to Housing We havecometoaclearrealizationofthefactthat should be the foundation not only for housing true individual freedom cannot exist without policy but also for a new social agenda. economic security and independence. “Necessi- tous men are not free men. ” These economic The call to adopt and implement a Right to truths have become accepted as self-evident. We Housing not only has an ethical basis in princi- have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights ples of justice and ideals of a commonwealth. It is under which a new basis of security and prosper- also based on a highly pragmatic perspective— ity can be established for all—regardless of sta- the central role that housing plays in peoples’ tion, race, or creed. Among these are: the right lives. Given the many ways in which housing is, toauseful and remunerative job . the right to or can be, the basic building block for a range earn enough to provide adequate food and cloth- of related benefits—personal health and safety, ing and recreation . the right to adequate med- employment opportunities, a decent education, ical care...therighttoa goodeducation [and security of tenure, economic security—a host along with several other enumerated rights] the of new social relationships and economic op- rightofevery family to a decent home. All of these rights spell security. And after this war is portunities would emerge if a Right to Housing won we must be prepared to move forward in were realized, and the extensive negative im- the implementation of these rights, to new goals pacts of poor housing would largely disappear. of human happiness and well-being. (Roosevelt ARight to Housing would also go a long way 1944; see also Sunstein 2004)2 toward countering the pernicious trend toward oursociety’sextremesofmaterialwell-beingand Abold, fresh approach to solving the na- opportunity—a trend that is creating larger and tion’s housing problems is timely because 1 P1: FAW/FAW P2: FAW GRBT106-INTRO GRBT106-Bratt December 7, 2005 15:37 Char Count= 0 2 Rachel G. Bratt, Michael E. Stone and Chester Hartman three-fourths of a century of government as this fundamental shift in the nation’s housing interventions and a multiplicity of strategies, stock progressed. Congressman Ron Dellums of both public and private, have not been de- California introduced the program in the 101st voted totrulysolving the problem. To be sure, Congress as H.R. 1122 (A Bill to Provide an Af- gains have been made, and millions of house- fordable, Secure and Decent Home and Suitable holds have been assisted, but the gains and Living Environment for Every American Fam- assistance have been partial, piecemeal and tran- ily). Needless to say, it did not pass. At the end sitory at best. Any examination of the array and of a hearing on the Bill, Congressman Henry scale of housing and housing-related problems Gonzalez of Texas, then Chair of the Banking, reveals clearly how painful, pervasive and per- Finance & Urban Affairs Committee and Chair sistent are these problems. Let us thus finally of the Subcommittee on Housing and Commu- get past the illusion that merely tinkering with nity Development, remarked, “What your group current policies and even appropriating more has presented is inevitably going to happen. It money will be sufficient to solve our housing is imaginative, it is seminal, it is creative.” problems. Fundamental change is necessary and We agree and hope this book will hasten that long overdue. day. This is not a new or original insight and call. Back in 1989, the Washington, DC-based Institute for Policy Studies assembled a Work- THE PHYSICAL IMPORTANCE ing Group on Housing (in which this book’s OF DECENT HOUSING co-editors Chester Hartman and Michael Stone as well as several of its contributors—Emily Where one lives—particularly if one is poor, Achtenberg, Peter Dreier, Peter Marcuse and and/or a person of color—plays a critical role Florence Roisman—participated) that crafted a in fixing a person’s place in society and in the detailed housing program, put forward in The local community. Living in substandard hous- RighttoHousing: A Blueprint for Housing the ing in a “bad” neighborhood may limit people’s Nation.3 ability to secure an adequate education for their That document provided an analysis of the children, reduce chances of finding a decent job failures of the private market and of govern- and deprive them of decent public services and ment programs similar to what is put forward community facilities. The quality of one’s hous- in this book. And it included a detailed program ing may also be an outward sign, as well as part for preserving affordable rental housing; pro- of a person’s self-image, that in some profound moting affordable homeownership; protecting and important ways one has not succeeded. the stock of government-assisted housing; and Housing has always been viewed as one of producing/financing new affordable housing. the necessities of life—a critical element of the First-year program costs—estimated for each el- “food, clothing and shelter” triumvirate. Stories ement of the program, with administrative costs of homeless people freezing to death each winter added—at that time ranged from $29 billion to provide stark reminders that housing is a fun- $88 billion, depending on how rapidly and fully damental need. In earlier eras, events such as specific program elements were introduced; by the great Chicago fire of 1871 and the cholera way of comparison, at the same time, the highly epidemics that swept densely populated urban regressive income tax system for housing pro- areas in the early and mid-19th Century dra- vided at least $54 billion in tax breaks for high- matically made the link between poor hous- income households. The thrust of the various ing conditions and health and safety (Friedman elements was to move substantial portions of 1968). The public response was enactment of the existing housing stock, as well as new addi- tenement house laws, first in New York City and tions, into the nonprofit sector (public as well as followed by other large cities. The explicit goal private)—“decommodifying housing” was the was to regulate the “health, safety and morals of catchword. Annual costs would steadily decrease tenants” (Wood 1934) as well as to protect the P1: FAW/FAW P2: FAW GRBT106-INTRO GRBT106-Bratt December 7, 2005 15:37 Char Count= 0 Introduction 3 nonpoor who were living in nearby neighbor- researchers concluded that “the costs of fail- hoods. ing to provide decent homes in stable environ- Although housing conditions have improved ments to families—in the forms of ill health, dramatically since the 19th Century, poor qual- underachievement, crime and vandalism—will ity is still a problem facing millions of Ameri- far exceed the investment in adequate mainte- cans. Fires due to inadequate wiring or faulty nance and repair of housing” (cited in Hynes furnaces are still commonplace, and many et al. 2000, 35–36). Although there may be households are plagued by infestations of ver- room for improving our ability to measure the min and inadequate heating systems. In recent cost-effectiveness of improved housing, physi- years, there have been compelling demonstra- cal problems caused by poor housing should not tions of the links between health and housing. persist. Forexample, a project undertaken under the auspices of the Boston Medical Center under- THE EMOTIONAL AND SYMBOLIC scored that poorly maintained housing is closely IMPORTANCE OF HOUSING linked to childhood injuries and lead poisoning, and that damp, moldy interiors are associated In addition to protecting people from the ele- with elevated incidences of respiratory disease ments and providing (or not providing) phys- and asthma (Sandel et al. 1999, 25–26; see also ical safety, housing fulfills a variety of critical Scientific American 1999, 19–20; Bernstein 1999; functions in contemporary society.5 A landmark Perez-Pe´ na˜ 2003). study prepared in 1966 for the U.S. Department Over the past 30 years, we have learned a of Health, Education and Welfare (predecessor great deal about the impact of lead on children’s to the Department of Health and Human Ser- health. Lead poisoning has been called “the most vices) investigated what was known about the commonanddevastatingenvironmentaldisease relationship between housing and the feelings of young children” (U.S.
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