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AP Project-Housing
Abstract
Housing is an integral part of any community and essential resource that both the government and private sector must not only avail to the community at affordable prices but also in good quality. Various urban centers across the world have been characterized by a recent housing crisis in urban centers with people unable to afford quality housing. This existing housing crisis has been linked to various factors: rural-urban migration, high bank capital interest, and poor government policies. There is, therefore, an urgent need for the development of a strategy that will serve to effectively intervene for the existing housing crisis in the world. This strategy must be structured such that it addresses the supposed causes of the housing crisis with a focus on the key stakeholders: the government and the private sectors. This paper explores the various possible interventions that can best solve the existing housing crisis in the United States and the world.
Housing like food and clothing is a fundamental need that everyone must be empowered to get access to. The housing crisis is one of the major international problems that have been accelerated by several factors: rural-urban migration, high bank capital interest, and poor housing policies. Due to a dramatic increase in the rate of the rural to urban migration, urban centers in the world have been congested and thus escalating the housing rent and ownership prices due to the market forces of demand and supply (Kim & Hann 280). The bank capital influence has also resulted in the underinvestment in the available housing projects with most proceeds realized from the rent being pocketed by the banks rather than used to maintain the housing projects. Thirdly private sector has been empowered by some of the housing acts making them vulnerable to manipulation and abuse (Williams 211). This problem is particularly faced in urban centers where a majority of urban dwellers in cities such as New York and California have found it difficult to afford quality housing. The most affected populations are the low income and the unemployed with many rendered homeless. A lasting solution to the existing housing crisis in the world must focus on the main factors associated with the issue.
“California’s housing shortage remains a classic example of a supply-demand mismatch that is driving home and rental prices to all-time highs. California employers face an ever-increasing shortage of skilled workers as the high cost of housing, especially in coastal areas, drives lower- and mid-skilled workers out of California and in search of more affordable states. A significant lack of affordable housing remains one of the largest threats to California’s otherwise booming economy” (CalAdvocacy 1).
An effective advocacy plant must first focus on controlling the high rate of rural to urban migration (Terwilliger 55). Rural to urban migration can be defined as the mass movement of people from remote country regions to urban towns and cities. Rural to urban migration is caused by various factors all revolving around the need for a better quality lifestyle. In the need for a better lifestyle, for example, masses move to the urban centers in search of employment as most industries and opportunities are available in big towns than in marginalized rural centers (Dwan 42). People also move to urban centers in search of better facilities such as education and health care with the urban centers being better equipped with good schools and hospitals respectively compared to rural areas. Due to a subsequent increase in rural to urban migration, urban centers across the world have been exposed to the risk of a housing crisis due to overpopulation (Robertson 196). An increase in the population in the urban centers is associated with a corresponding increase in the demand for available housing. High demand for quality housing is further associated with an increase in the cost of quality housing making it unaffordable to most populations especially the unemployed and the low-income families (Davenport 47). This has resulted in the subsequent mushrooming of informal settlements in urban centers and an increase in the incidences of homelessness.
“In San Francisco, the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment is a staggering $5,043 per month, and even with one of the nation’s highest average median incomes of $96,677, the astronomical rents make the city unaffordable for a lot of people. In Boston, the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment is less, at $2,821 per month, but despite residents having high average median incomes of $75,300, the city remains unaffordable for a large population, including recent college graduates who make up a substantial part of the city’s workforce” (Regan 3).
An intervention strategy must, therefore, fundamentally focus on controlling congestion in urban centers. One of the major ways through which rural to urban migration can be controlled in a country entails the provision of social amenities. Governments must ensure that essential amenities such as electricity, water, hospitals, and recreational facilities are availed in remote areas (Hossain 10). This will reduce people’s need for a better lifestyle in urban centers as people in remote areas will be able to get access to services from their areas. The government must also create an enabling environment for the private sector to invest in remote areas. The availability of private investors in remote areas will also result in an increase in employment opportunities and thus reducing the need for rural to urban migration (Costello 220). The government must also expand agriculture in rural areas so that agriculture as an industry is able to sustain the needs of communities in the remote areas. This may entail the establishment of processing industries in the rural areas and the support of farming cooperatives. Agriculture in itself can create employment opportunities in rural areas resulting in a reduction in rural to urban migration. Controlling rural to urban migration can be an effective strategy in controlling the existing housing crisis in urban centers as a drop in the population in a town or city results in a corresponding drop in the demand for housing. A reduction in the demand for housing will further result in a reduction in the cost of housing prices making quality housing affordable to even low-income families.
Secondly, an effective intervention plan must also be centred on a review of previously developed government acts. Study findings by the Edelman Trust Barometer Survey show that over fifty percent of residents in California are considering moving out of the town due to the skyrocketing costs of living (Barometer 3). The high cost of housing in California has been ascribed to developed acts such as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA was initially developed to provide the requirement that governments conduct a review on projects before they are approved (Olshanski 312). The act serves to protect both the environment and human health by requiring agencies to analyze the effect of projects and mitigating any potential negative implications on the environment and human beings (CalAdvocacy 1). Unlike other laws in California, however, the act is enforced through private litigation hence vulnerable to litigation abuse that can significantly slow down or stop housing projects when the stakeholders are against density in a given area. Other than adding time to the housing development projects, CEQA can also serve to significantly increase the cost of housing projects as a lot of resources are wasted defending a project from opposing stakeholders. While acts like CEQA are developed to protect the public and environment, they have been often used as a political tool in the housing industry providing an obstacle on proposed projects while increasing the housing prices in California. An intervention strategy must, therefore, focus on reforming the various environmental laws such as CEQA (CalAdvocacy 1). These laws must be reviewed in such a way that there are checks and balances developed that will serve to create a sense of accountability among the stakeholders. This will facilitate transparency while enforcing such acts so that they are not abused in favour of a few individuals at the expense of potential housing projects that may help in controlling the existing housing crisis.
“A balanced housing policy means ensuring that both rental housing and homeownership become synonymous with economic security, safe and stable communities, access to quality jobs, schools and services, and wealth building. In other words, they both contribute to achieving the American Dream” (Ranghelli et al. 4).
The existing housing crisis in urban centers across the world can also be solved through balanced housing policy. According to Ranghelli et al., a balanced housing policy entails the redefinition of the concept of homeownership such that ownership also involves having pride and dignity in one’s rented or owned home (4). A balanced housing policy also entails investing in the community in the same way property is invested in. This involves addressing the existing housing crisis from the income side through an improvement of the economic muscle of families in such a way that they can easily go up the housing ladder (Ranghelli et al.). Empowering the economic muscle of a community is better than offering low-income housing as a community’s income often doesn’t keep up with the increasing cost of housing and renting. When the housing prices are inflated, homeownership is largely affected as it is out of rich for millions of unemployed and low-income earners.
Another market-based solution that can be effective in intervening for the existing housing crisis in the United States and the world at large is what can be described as a collaborative approach. In the United States, for example, more emphasis should be placed on the Housing Partnership Network. The Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is an umbrella network made up of one hundred community developing nonprofits (Bratt 24). From the time it was founded, the network has been working to develop a way of facilitating social change. There is a need for further federal, state, and other stakeholder’s support so that the network is financially and morally empowered to fulfill its mission (Regan 3). There is further need for organizations and other stakeholders to collaborate in addressing the high cost of living especially in urban centers where young adults who have recently graduated are looking to establish a livelihood. There is also a need for the preservation of the existing affordable housing before the market inflates the housing prices making these properties unaffordable to the middle-income population (Regan 4). Another initiative by the HPN that could be emulated in other countries facing a major housing crisis is the Build Opportunity Fund. The Build opportunity fund can be described as an investment vehicle that attempts to provide capital at the business level in such a way that non-profit developers who are performing well in the market are empowered to develop long-term affordable housing (O’Regan 32). The financing system in the housing market should, therefore, focus on nonprofit affordable housing.
In conclusion, the findings in this paper provide what can be an effective model for dealing with the existing housing crisis in urban centers not only in the United States but worldwide. With the issue being a product of governments’ inability to control rural to urban migration and the bank influence on the housing markets, an intervention program must not focus on one issue but be integrated to address each of the main causes. This must entail reforms in the available acts such as CEQA such that they are not vulnerable to abuse. It must also entail funding nonprofit housing organizations so that they are at an enabling position to provide affordable housing to the population. Thirdly, the intervention model must involve the establishment of such initiatives as the HPN that will promote collaboration among organizations in dealing with the crisis. The development of such a model as a strategy to deal with the affordable housing crisis can guarantee a significant reduction in the issue as the strategy will address the core of the problem rather than the symptoms observed.
Works Cited
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Bratt, Rachel G. “Housing plus: Strategies, challenges, and potential of programs provided by members of the Housing Partnership Network.” Prepared for the Housing Partnership Network, Boston, MA (2006).
CalChamber Advocacy. California Housing Crisis. California Promise: Opportunity for All. https://advocacy.calchamber.com/policy/issues/california-housing-crisis/
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Olshansky, Robert B. “The California Environmental Quality Act and local planning.” Journal of the American Planning Association 62.3 (1996): 313-330.
Ranghelli, L., et al. “The crisis in America’s housing: Confronting myths and promoting a balanced housing policy.” The Center for Economic and Policy Research (2005). https://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/housing_book_2005_01.pdf
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