The Urban Housing Crisis: Social, Economic, and Legal Issues and Proposals

(Hardback)

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Zarembka's one-volume analysis and synthesis of four major aspects of the current housing crisis (financing/affordability, inadequate supply of lower-priced housing, discrimination, and displacement) provides, for each of the areas discussed, historical background, a review of alternative methods of problem resolution, and concrete proposals for new housing policies. Few, if any, books in the field investigate all four topics in such detail. Drawing on her legal training and experience, Zarembka also summarizes and interprets key legal concepts and court decisions that are relevant to the housing issue in terms the non-lawyer can understand. In addition, the work proposes a comprehensive platform for resolving the housing crisis. Chapter 1 summarizes the present housing crisis in the United States and reviews the federal government's response to that crisis. Issues arising in capitalist, socialist, and mixed economies in devising an equitable housing system are discussed in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 through 7 provide detailed analyses of the problems of financing, production and preservation, discrimination, and displacement, and give concrete proposals in each of those areas. The book concludes with a chapter discussing constitutional considerations that apply to the housing proposals, as well as mechanisms for financing them. Public policy makers, housing experts, urban planners, housing and community activists, professors and students in the social sciences, minorities, and those interested in critiques of the existing social and economic structure will find the keen insights, systematic analysis, and proposals for change provided here important reading. The volume could well be used as a primary or supplemental text for courses in urban studies, public policy, sociology, political science, economics, social work, law, Afro-American studies, and history.

Reviews

The dimensions of the housing crisis are obvious: Increasing numbers of individuals have no shelter whatsoever. Millions more people in their thirties, who, less than 15 years ago, could have bought a first home, are forced to rent. Other families who bought houses 10 to 30 years ago are being forced out of their homes by urban redevelopment, rising utility costs and taxes, or unemployment. This volume addresses this crisis, examines what the government has done about it, and offers a comprehensive platform for altering the current housing system, resolving the current crisis, and preventing future ones. Four major aspects of the housing crisis are addressed: (1) financing and affordability; (2) inadequate supply of lower-priced housing; (3) discrimination; and (4) displacement. For each of these issues, a historical background is provided, together with a review of alternative methods of problem resolution, and proposals for new housing policies. Key legal concepts and court decisions relevant to the housing issue are summarized and interpreted. Following an introductory summary of the crisis and the federal government's response to it, the book review issues arising in capitalist, socialist, and mixed economies in devising an equitable housing system. The bulk of the volume is devoted to analyses of the four problems, together with proposals for ameliorating them. Constitutional considerations that apply to these proposals, as well as financing mechanisms, conclude the book.-Sage Urban Studies Abstracts
Zarembka's provocative evaluation of the urban housing crisis is made from the perspective of low-income, homeless people. This orientation to low-income housing issues is at times biased by implicit assumptions or by a failure to consider the total costs of housing. For example, any negative aspect of rent control is addressed by a simple control, rather than by contrasts with alternative policies. In addition, patterns of changing land use over time are not adequately addressed, nor are responses to market forces seriously included. Zarembka has a keen grasp of legal issues in housing. She asserts that legal support does not guarantee the excellence or success of a policy proposal and that more careful consideration of housing proposals is needed (e.g., offering security of tenure to renters which would radically transform land and housing markets in the US).-Choice
"Zarembka's provocative evaluation of the urban housing crisis is made from the perspective of low-income, homeless people. This orientation to low-income housing issues is at times biased by implicit assumptions or by a failure to consider the total costs of housing. For example, any negative aspect of rent control is addressed by a simple control, rather than by contrasts with alternative policies. In addition, patterns of changing land use over time are not adequately addressed, nor are responses to market forces seriously included. Zarembka has a keen grasp of legal issues in housing. She asserts that legal support does not guarantee the excellence or success of a policy proposal and that more careful consideration of housing proposals is needed (e.g., offering security of tenure to renters which would radically transform land and housing markets in the US)."-Choice
"The dimensions of the housing crisis are obvious: Increasing numbers of individuals have no shelter whatsoever. Millions more people in their thirties, who, less than 15 years ago, could have bought a first home, are forced to rent. Other families who bought houses 10 to 30 years ago are being forced out of their homes by urban redevelopment, rising utility costs and taxes, or unemployment. This volume addresses this crisis, examines what the government has done about it, and offers a comprehensive platform for altering the current housing system, resolving the current crisis, and preventing future ones. Four major aspects of the housing crisis are addressed: (1) financing and affordability; (2) inadequate supply of lower-priced housing; (3) discrimination; and (4) displacement. For each of these issues, a historical background is provided, together with a review of alternative methods of problem resolution, and proposals for new housing policies. Key legal concepts and court decisions relevant to the housing issue are summarized and interpreted. Following an introductory summary of the crisis and the federal government's response to it, the book review issues arising in capitalist, socialist, and mixed economies in devising an equitable housing system. The bulk of the volume is devoted to analyses of the four problems, together with proposals for ameliorating them. Constitutional considerations that apply to these proposals, as well as financing mechanisms, conclude the book."-Sage Urban Studies Abstracts

Author Bio

ARLENE ZAREMBKA is an Attorney at Law in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. She worked for four years in the Housing Unit of Legal Services in St. Louis where she specialized in representing persons facing displacement and racial discrimination. She has also engaged in community education on the causes of the housing crisis. Since 1980 her writings on housing as well as a variety of civil rights issues have appeared widely in such publications as the Housing Law Bulletin, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Reproductive Rights Newsletter, ACLU Liberties, Missouri Law Review, St. Louis University Public Law Review, and Barrister. She has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at the St. Louis University and Washington University law schools and in the Sociology and Women's Studies Departments of Washington University in St. Louis.