Sand Castles Before the Tide? Affordable Housing in Expensive Cities

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32(1): 59-80, Winter 2018

By: American Economic Association, Gabriel Metcalf

https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.32.1.59
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Affordable Housing Programs  |  Housing Supply Planning

This article reviews housing policies in expensive metropolitan areas and explores how local politics prevents many cities from adopting more robust affordable housing provisions. It outlines the four tools cities can use to affect housing prices, which are social housing, vouchers, price control, and regulation, and discusses the barriers to collective action. It proposes seven solutions that more substantially address the affordability crisis than current practices.