State Bodies and Problems of The Homeless

A city within a city the US Department of Housing and Urban Development says more than 2 million people live in public housing throughout the United States. Homelessness and poverty have had a constant increase throughout the years. With the minimum wage remaining low and the cost of living increasing, rents escalating as well as the property values due to a speculative market on land and real estate, there is a lot holding back affordable housing for all.

Federal funding for public non-profit housing remaining at a constant low has added to the way the United States is seen today regarding the lack of affordable housing. When there is not any affordable or readily available housing for everyone in need the whole system falls between the cracks.

More than 1.2 million households currently live in public housing of some kind, subsidized apartment buildings often referred to as “housing projects” have a complicated history in the United States. While the first decades of projects were built with higher construction standards and a broader range of income and applicants, over time public housing became the housing of last resort in many cities throughout the United States. Several negative stereotypes associated with public housing create difficulties in developing new units.

To successfully solve this problem today moving forward requires us to first look back at the history of public housing in the United States to see how we got to this point and discuss housing models which have been utilized in the past. Basic history of public housing in the United States is administered by federal, state, and local agencies to offering aid to low-income households. Public housing is priced well below the market rate, in the beginning public housing in the United States consisted primarily of one or more concentrated blocks of low-rise or high-rise apartment buildings. These complexes were operated by state and local housing authorities which are authorized and funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Title 2, section 202 of the National Industrial Recovery Act passed June 16th 1933. In the spring of 1934, the housing division began to undertake direct construction of public housing. A decisive decision that would serve as precedent for the 1937 Wagner- Steagall Housing Act which set the template for public housing in the United States at the time.

The United States Housing Authority Act of 1937 would operate with a strong focus toward local efforts and locating and constructing housing that would place caps of 5,000 dollars spent per housing unit. Construction of housing projects dramatically accelerated under the new structure in 1939 alone. 50,000 housing units were constructed more than twice as many were built during the entire tenure of the Public Works at Authority housing division. During the World War II era and in the late 1940s entire communities sprang up around factories that manufactured military goods. In 1940 Congress authorized the US housing authority to build 20 public housing developments around these private companies to sustain the war effort the defense housing division was founded in 1941 and would ultimately construct eight developments of temporary housing many became long-term housing units after the war.

During World War II construction of homes dramatically decreased as all efforts were directed toward the war. When veterans returned home from overseas, they came ready to start a new life often with families it did so with the funding of resources of the GI Bill to get their new mortgage. However there was not enough housing to accommodate demand. Efforts moved to focus exclusively on veterans housing specifically a subsidy on materials for housing and construction, however in the wake of the 1946 elections President Truman believed there was insufficient public support to continue material subsidies. Veterans emergency housing program ended on January 1947 by an executive order from President Truman with the passage of the Housing Act in 1949 the role of the federal government both in public and private housing dramatically increased. Unhappiness with urban renewal policies came quick after the passage of the bill, urban renewal had become for many cities a way to eliminate blight but not a solid vehicle for constructing new housing. For example in the ten years after the bill was passed, four hundred and twenty five thousand units of housing were demolished but only 125 thousand units were constructed.

Public housing in the 1960s had no major legislation change the basic mechanisms of public housing until the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965. This Act created the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD a cabinet-level agency to address housing. HUD could then provide subsidies to bridge the gap between the cost of these units and a set percentage of a household’s income.

This kind of housing assistance assists poor tenants by giving them a monthly subsidy to their landlords, this assistance can be project-based which applies to specific properties or tenant based which provides tenants with a voucher they can then use wherever vouchers are accepted tenant based housing vouchers covered the gap between 25% of a household’s income and the established fair market rent. Virtually no new project-based section 8 housing has been produced since 1983 but tenant based vouchers are now the primary mechanism of assisted housing.

Public housing in the 1980s and 1990s changes to public housing programs were minor during the 1980s under the Reagan administration household contribution toward section 8 rents was increased to 30 percent of household income and fair market rents were lowered, Public assistance for housing efforts however was reduced as part of a package of across-the-board cuts additionally policies resulted in the expansion of emergency shelters for homeless rather than permanent housing.

The next era in public housing began in 1992 with the launch of the hope six program. Hope six funds were devoted to demolishing poor quality public housing projects and replacing them with lower density developments often of mixed income. Hope six became the primary vehicle for the construction of new federally subsidized units but it suffered considerable funding cuts.

Hopefully, city county and state governments will be able to adapt to allow the problem of affordable housing to be solved unfortunately as long as land and real estate is a speculative market the chances of that seem unlikely. Affordable housing development doesn’t bring money into the coffers of local governments. Therefore, it is set aside in favor of more lucrative development but this ends up leaving many individuals behind. One can only hope that the attitudes and stereotypes around public housing and homelessness can be shattered so that real progress can actually be made to solve this final issue you.

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