America's Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake: The Failure of American Housing Policy [Hardcover]

Howard Husock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2003

For more than seven decades, the American government has acted to provide housing for the poor. In America's Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake, Howard Husock explains how, as with so many anti-poverty efforts, low-income housing programs have harmed those they were meant to help while causing grave collateral damage to cities and their citizens. Public housing projects, Mr. Husock writes, are only the best-known housing policy mistakes. His book explains how a long list of lesser-known efforts—including housing vouchers, community development corporations, the low-income housing tax credit, and the Community Reinvestment Act—are just as pernicious, working in concert to undermine sound neighborhoods and perpetuate a dependent underclass. He exposes the false premises underlying publicly subsidized housing, above all the belief that the private housing market inevitably fails the poor. Exploring the link between private housing markets and individual self-improvement, he shows how new and expensive public efforts are merely old wine in new bottles. Instead he argues for the deep but unappreciated importance to American society of economically diverse urban neighborhoods, and he demonstrates the historic and continuing importance of privately built "affordable" housing, from the brownstones of Brooklyn to the bungalows of Oakland and, in the present day, houses built through Habitat for Humanity. Bearing witness in the tradition of Jane Jacobs, Mr. Husock describes and laments the deadening effects of public and subsidized housing on the economies and vitality of American cities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A provocative but wise and convincing book. (Stuart Butler, Heritage Foundation )

Provocative critiques...maybe this time Congress will finally listen. (Ron Utt, Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation )

This brief book is a gem...an incisive and devastating analysis.... A must-read. (Stephan Thernstrom, Winthrop Professor of History, Harvard University )

Has been popular with [Presidential] administration officials. (David W. Chen The New York Times )

Howard Hussock...has made an important contribution to public policy and to American Government in general. (Governing Magazine )

About the Author

Howard Husock is director of public policy case studies at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is a contributing editor of City Journal, the magazine of urban affairs published by the Manhattan Institute, from which the essays in this book are drawn. Mr. Husock lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566635314
• ISBN-13: 978-1566635318
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.4 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #985,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well laid out, informative, and a surprisingly quick read. February 17, 2008

By cartervoter

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I recommend this book to all political science majors.

It is a clear-eyed analysis of the mistakes made by well-intentioned people who failed dismally to perceive the differences between their dream worlds and the world which is inhabited by real human beings.

In the book, Husock also analyzes alternative approaches such as providing housing vouchers.

I have also read Husock's essay, "Mayor must reconsider 'affordable'," which was published in the Boston Globe January 2006, while Husock was adjunct lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

And I have read his 2007 Wall Street Journal commentary "What's Lost in the Move - Helping our newest neighbors acclimate," which was written after he became vice president of the Manhattan Institute.

I look forward to reading more work by Husock.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good points May 28, 2009

By Vanessa Allmon

Format:Hardcover

Tough but good arguments. If you are a pro low-income housing advocate do not pass up an opportunity to read this book. Admittedly told from a conservative's (ideological) perspective, this book presents many ideals advanced by former Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Chairman Vince Lane, who was once on the Clinton administration's short list for HUD Secretary, as well as former(CHA) public housing residents.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Food For Thought August 9, 2006

By Hoss

Format:Hardcover

Don't be swayed by ideologues who likely haven't read the book.

Husock does a fantastic job of deconstructing the various policies and programs that have contributed to our current state of affairs with housing issues in the United States. Not content to just stay within the realm of government/taxpayer sponsored housing initiatives: the author proceeds to analyze programs like Habitat for Humanity. He views Habitat as a wonderful catalyst to get aspiring homeowners to invest in their home and their community with a sense of ownership, versus a handout that leaves no sense of place. But, this is just one example, the book gives you many more.

If one did actually read this with an open-mind, not likely for some, you would take away different perspectives on what is good/bad about various programs, and how resources could be shifted to meet housing needs in the most economic and managebale manner.