In Search of Affordable Housing: How Deregulatory Strategies Fail the Poor
![handle is hein.journals/brikanproco9 and id is 233 raw text is:
IN SEARCH OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING: HOW
DEREGULATORY STRATEGIES FAIL THE POOR
LAURA S. UNDERKUFFLER*
As homelessness in California swells, Gov. Gavin Newsom is
asking state lawmakers to funnel $1.4 billion into programs
designed to alleviate the crisis.... [A]dvocates and officials ...
acknowledged it would not be enough to get the 151,000 homeless
individuals in California off the streets.'
INTRODUCTION
There is little doubt that there is a severe housing crisis in the
United States. Commentator after commentator has decried the
nationwide shortage of housing for those of limited financial means.
As the result of the Great Recession of 2007-2009, approximately
8.4 million jobs were lost.2 This, combined with the subprime mort-
gage crisis, swelled the ranks of low-income renters by millions of
people at a time when housing that they could afford was already
scarce. The number of households paying more than 30% of gross in-
come for rent rose by 3.6 million from 2008 to 2014, to a total of 21.3
million households.3 The number of those with severe burdens-
paying more than 50%of gross income for rent-jumped by 2.1 million
to a record 11.4 million households.4
The recovery of the economy has not done much to abate these
numbers. Low-income wages are simply inadequate to pay for hous-
ing costs. In 2017, 47.4 percent of renters paid more than 30 percent
of their incomes for housing. Among households earning between
* J. DuPratt White Professor of Law, Cornell Law School.
1. Alicia Victoria Lozano, California Governor Seeks $1.4Billion to Combat Homelessness
as Crisis Grows, NBC NEWS (Jan. 11, 2020, 9:31 PM), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news
/california-governor-seeks-1-4-bilion-combat-homelessness-crisis-grows-n 1113926.
2. JOINT CTR. FOR HOUS. STUDIES OF HARVARD UNIV., THE STATE OF THE NATION'S
HOUSING 28 (2010).
3. See id. at 4.
4. See id. See also Brandon M. Weiss, Progressive Property Theory and Housing Justice
Campaigns, 10 U.C. IRVINE L. REV. 251, 261-62 (2019) (discussing the development of the
housing crisis in the United States over the past 15 years).
227](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/brikanproco9&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
In Search of Affordable Housing: How Deregulatory Strategies Fail the Poor
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most