Affordable Housing Solutions Often at Impasse

Policy Paper #2 Affordable Housing, Liberal, Conservative Viewpoints at Impasse (Michelle Courtney Berry), Policy Development and Analysis, LSUS Doctoral Program

?????????I'm in a doctoral program for leadership at the executive level and my concentration is leadership studies and my research is on how toxic cultures create toxic workplaces. I also take policy, ethics, and HR classes and I'm laser-focusing in on affordable housing issues and leadership. Affordable housing was a complex, often intractable issue I faced as an elected official. Here's part one of a two, maybe three papers I've received high marks on that I am sharing with the public.??

Housing affordability is a significant and often intractable problem that requires innovative, nuanced policies that appeal to diverse populations in the U.S.?Affordable housing is a policy issue positioned between public and private domains.?Many housing units are privately controlled, while others are in the public sphere, where some entities offer affordable options that help communities build health, often by increasing access to education and a chance at financial prosperity. The result of this dualistic nature of housing policy ultimately mixes market realities with public and private needs.

??????????? Housing policies are typically decentralized, regulatory, and redistributive.?Decentralized policies give some resources or benefits to certain groups (for example, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC), providing developers with tax breaks.?There are often varying rules and conditions of housing policy, from zoning regulations to building codes that can mandate low-rent units in a new development. While less common in U.S. housing policy, some initiatives contain redistributive elements. In some cases, inclusionary zoning policies may require affordable units. Birkland also explores regulations (which regulate when and how housing may be built) and statutory policies (which regulate who gets access to the intended housing upon completion). For example, land use and development density rely on existing zoning codes. Urban planners must balance permitting enough growth to accommodate housing insecurity while avoiding sprawl. Policies with allotments are used to incentivize affordable housing.

??????????? Inflationary low-income housing regulations inevitably include all sorts of governmental involvement and various governmental entities. Grants and unappropriated tax monies are often in the control of governments. Individual developers might earn less on a single project but receive significant breaks and predictable rental income. One of the ultimate goals of progressive, affordable housing policy is to place low-income people into permanent housing so they can lead better lives. Material policy is about actual results, but symbolic policy affects attitudes and passionate advocacy for the creation of affordable housing. Housing Acts and the “right to housing” policies symbolize equality and dignity.?Mixed-income housing accommodates social justice values by being inclusive and diverse, but achieving such inclusion is often highly politicized. It is putting it mildly to say that liberals and conservatives disagree on housing policy. From a liberal perspective, housing policy should receive government support, funding, and subsidies. Conservatives disagree, preferring the “market” to decide, leaning, also, toward housing spurred by private investment, rather than governmental intervention. ?

??????????? Therefore, housing policies shift in the changing tides of elected officials, economic conditions, and societal pressures. The rational-comprehensive model was evident in early public housing policy development in the 1930s-1940s, with clear goals and systematic approaches established through legislation like the Housing Act of 1937 (Wakely & Riley, n.d.). As the complexity of housing policy increased, policymakers had to shift perspectives and tactics.

??????????? Most American housing policy is considered evolutionary and operates in a phased-in manner, modifying gradually over decades rather than once over time (Wakely & Riley, n.d.). This would fit Lindblom’s hypothesis that policymakers generally make short and repeated incremental reforms instead of full ones (Peters, n.d.). More recent housing policies demonstrate elements of bounded rationality, with policymakers making decisions under constraints of limited information and resources (Peters, n.d.). Thus, we are commonly left with “satisficing” solutions, a term that refers to accepting solutions that are ‘good enough’ rather than optimal, like the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.

Further, some aspects of how housing policy develops may resemble the garbage can model, where multiple “streams” of problems, solutions, and political factors (and factions) converge to produce policy changes (Cohen et al., 1972). The RAD program, for example, was designed to address shortfalls of funding and maintenance backlogs (Wakely & Riley, n.d.).

??????????? Policymakers rely on data and public feedback to solve problems and imitate winning approaches, taking into account historical impediments such as socioeconomic status barriers and NIMBY (and other forms of public resistance). Overall, cross-functional policy development can (when it works) create viable, affordable housing solutions.?Better regulatory and statutory policy expertise at all levels of government enables the deployment of affordable housing where it is needed most, for the good of all.

References

Birkland, T.A. (2020). A primer on policymaking: Theories, concepts, and processes for making public policy (5th ed.). Routledge.

Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1972). A garbage can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1-25.

Peters, B. G. (n.d.). Governance: A garbage can perspective. Retrieved from https://aei.pitt.edu/347/1/wp_84.pdf

Wakely, P., & Riley, E. (n.d.). The case for incremental housing. Cities Alliance. https://www.citiesalliance.org/resources/publications/case-study/case-incremental-housing