Seven Ideas for Tackling the Housing Crisis

Matthew Iglesias interviews Brookings fellow Jenny Schuetz, exploring her recent research into housing stress across the country. Iglesias outlines seven key takeaways. In a nutshell, they are the following:

• There are two housing crises, not one: a nationwide crisis for low-income households and "another that affects a larger share of households in a minority of markets." That is, expensive urban markets.
• Housing assistance for low-income families should be an entitlement.
• Housing assistance shouldn't be wedded to local costs.
• Expensive urban markets have a supply problem that housing assistance cannot solve.
• Despite some downtown "construction booms," most urban land is consigned to low-density uses with little to no ongoing construction.
• The most expensive markets would be the best places for new construction, but that would require intervention from state governments.
• Federal policymakers need to look beyond HUD funds and use transportation money as a lever instead.