This article post is a compliment to the previously posted The American Prospect article about Social Housing. It provides a clear articulation of the goals of social housing, how it differs from affordable housing, and presents some policy strategies to develop social housing in the US
By Oksana Mironova and Thomas J. Waters, staff at the Community Service Society, February 18th, 2020
"...We define social housing models as those that strive to achieve permanent affordability, social equality, and democratic resident control. These goals are reflected, to varying degrees, in existing U.S. affordable housing programs, including public housing, nonprofit-managed rentals, and privately-run, limited-equity cooperatives on land stewarded by community land trusts. But these existing programs don’t all live up to the three main social housing goals equally. Just how “social” each model is depends less on ownership structures than on how well it shields the housing from market pressures, promotes racial and economic integration, and allows for robust resident governance.
The first key goal of social housing policy is to create “housing in the public interest,” or, to redefine housing as a public good, like mass transit, libraries, or schools. Functionally, this means that the public and/or nonprofit sector assume stewardship responsibilities over the housing in perpetuity. While guaranteeing a level of affordability is central to social housing, it also insulates housing from market pressures. Through a commitment to permanent affordability, owners do not face either the financial incentive to raise rents and sale prices or the financial need to do so, to borrow money for repairs. This also reduces the financial risk of property ownership and the potential for property speculation, which is driven by investors using projections of quickly increasing rent rolls and/or underlying property values to take on risky debt. The social science term for diminishing the impact of market pressure on housing is decommodification.
The second goal is social equality through the reduction of segregation by race and income, and the diminished impact of policies that bestow privileges on different members of the public based on tenure (ranking homeowners above renters and the unhoused). According to the Homes Guarantee platform, “social housing is based on the fundamental principle that everyone—no matter their income, background, or their conformity to social or legal norms—has the right to a home.” In Nordic countries social housing models often employ a “universalist” approach, providing housing for people across income levels, not just those poorly served by the private market. . And as Tara Raghuveer of Kansas City Eviction Project/People’s Policy Project explained to us , accessibility, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) modifications and wraparound supportive services, are a key component of ensuring social housing is truly available to everyone.
The third and perhaps most ambitious goal of social housing is democratic resident control. Real control means that residents can and do meaningfully participate in building governance. This is only possible if residents have very strong rights and the resources to organize, formulate their policy preferences, and use their rights effectively.
Does social housing differ from affordable housing?
The goals of social housing—decommodification, social equality, and democratic resident control—are not central to affordable housing policy in the U.S. Many existing programs do address the need for affordable housing, and often include social housing elements, but fall far short of the ideal of truly social housing.
There's more... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
(image associated with this post is from another article by same authors, "How Social Is That Housing?"
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