What Medicare for All is for health care, social housing is for shelter.
by RAMENDA CYRUS at The American Prospect, July 28, 2022
This essay provides a solid overview of what social housing is, how it has developed in other countries, and how it could function in the US.
"Two big problems arise from relying nearly exclusively on private developers and landlords for housing. The first is that building happens in erratic surges depending on the business cycle, not the needs of the American people... The second problem is that the incentive for the private market to build housing is maximizing profit, not meeting the needs of the people..."
"There is (another) solution that addresses the crisis much more directly: social housing. Rather than American-style public housing, which is reserved for the lowest incomes, this housing would be open to everyone. Housing supply would be delivered to the people who need it most urgently—which is to say, all people.
"Ultimately, housing would become a right for all. To fight for this goal, the culture must disabuse itself of the notion that there are some people unworthy of government-owned housing—whether it’s marginalized groups like the poor or even the upper middle class. American society must renounce the presumption that there are people who cannot or should not live in proximity to each other. All people can cohabitate; what’s more, everyone must for a truly equitable future to be within grasp."
Highly recommend reading the full article here.
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