Out of Reach 2007
In 2008, the housing problems facing Americans are making headlines. After years of absence from the front page, stories of families unable to afford their homes and facing foreclosure and eviction fill the news.
With the focus on the homeownership crisis, it is not surprising that the long standing and steadily growing gap between wages and the cost of rental housing, the fundamental problem described in Out of Reach, has received considerably less attention. But it is important to recognize that these two problems share the same root: a national housing policy that has failed to provide and protect safe, decent, affordable housing for millions
of Americans.
During the housing boom, pundits and politicians observed the apparent ease with which even a low income family could buy a home and lauded homeownership as the “solution” for lowincome households aspiring to achieve stable housing, self sufficiency, and the American Dream. In the current political context, this solution was particularly attractive because it was taking place through the apparent magic of “financial innovation” in private mortgage markets, and not through ongoing government assistance or charity.
