1. Lack of low-income housing

2. Dilapidated and dangerous housing

3. Homeless people

4. Large # of home foreclosures

*Gave block grants to states and local gov'ts

*Gave decision-making power to states

*Provided for non-profit sponsors to participate

*Linked housing to social services

Note:  This directly linked social workers to individuals with problems such as food stamps, child welfare, etc.

*1988

*President Clinton signed

*devolved fed. responsibility to 3,400 semiautonomous public housing authorities (PHAs).

*TANF recipients can lose their housing if they don't fulfill their work obligations

*PHAs encouraged to recruit good working class families to act as role models for the TANF families

Gov't-assisted hsg is not a right or entitlement

5 million

50%

*It spends less.

*Also, most subsidies d/n benefit the poor (e.g. the mortgage interest tax deduction...this deduction last yr. cost the gov't $373 million. About 75% of those taking this deduction make over $50k/yr.)

*The US hsg market is in crisis w/tens of thousands of foreclosures

*Nat'l home ownership reached a high of 68% of U.S. families in 2003. With the thousands of foreclosures in the last yr., this percentage dropped to 67%.

*The disparity btwn whites/blacks in homeownership narrowed slightly in 2002 but millions of poor blacks still do not have homes.

*Urban sprawl still continues & is increasing everywhere

*The South and the West have lead in new construction of homes.

*About 40% of all new hsg starts in construction before the recession were in 5 states: FL, CA, GA, NC, & TX

*From 1990-2000fff, # of households in the US increased by 15%

Current Housing Crisis

*As home values were artificially inflated starting in the 90s, there had to come a period of correction to the real estate bubble.

*The correction has hit w/full fury. In '07, 400,000 families experienced foreclosures. This was an increase of 50% from the previous yr.

*In next yr., it is estimated that another million families will face foreclosure unless the gov't intervenes w/various forms of relief. This affects a # of industries such as construction, home building suppliers, renters who are forced out due to foreclosures on their landlords, mortage and loan lenders.

1. Real income has dropped or many low-income families

2. Rent in most areas has increased

3. The # of rental households has increased naturally

4. The # of low-income rentals has decreased-many torn down to make way for expensive condos in lg. cities.

5. Many lg. cities had provided SRO (single room occupancy) hsg. units for poor. Btwn 1970-1985, over 1 million SROs were demolished.

6. In some areas, serious overcrowding of poor people takes place, e.g. NYC. HUD defines overcrowding when there is more than one person per room in the unit. Many live w/o electric/plumbing.

*The poor of the poorest

*Of homeless females, 60% had children

*About 70% of all homeless are men

*By race: Whites 41%; Blacks 40%; Hispanics 10%; Native Americans 8%; Other 1%

*Homeless w/drug & alcohol problems: 38%

*Health: Persons w/Aids 3%; Other infectious diseases 26%; Chronic health problems 45%

*Persons who had worked in last 12 mo. 44%

Victims of crime 38%

Rec'd food stamps 37%; Medicaid 30%

Lived in Central cities 71%

Episodes of homelessness: First time 49%

Veterans 33%

Youth: About 300,000 (27% had lived in foster/group homes; 33% ran away; 22% forced about by parents)

*40,000 homeless assistance programs in 21,000 locations in the U.S.

*Food pantries are most common programs (9,000)

*49% of all programs are in central cities

Housing Bubble Facts

*Note: BEFORE the current great recession

*1950-1995: Hsg. prices grew @ same rate as other goods/srvcs

*Since 1996, hsg. prices risen by 45% after adjusting for inflation

*The eventual slowdown of hsg. prices is comparable to the bubble in stock prices in the 90s but will have greater impact since hsg. wealth is far more evenly distributed than stock wealth.

*Run-up in hsg prices generated $5 trillion in hsg. bubble wealth

*Ea. wk 140,000 U.S. families bought a house, the majority @ bubble-inflated prices.

*Rents usually rise w/increased hsg prices but this has not been the case since 2002, suggesting that hsg. prices are not being driven by fundamental factors in the hsg. market.

*Ratio of home equity to home value stands at near-record lows

*Collapse of hsg bubble threw the economy into a major recession

*Collapse of hsg. bubble may require fed. bail-out of mortg market

*Hsg. bubble collapse could lead to loss of 3.6 - 4.5 percentage points drop of the GDP.

*The quicker hsg. prices drop, the less economic dmg there will be

*Low mortgage rates have propelled the bubble

*2 million new hsg units built each & 1.5 million new households needing homes.

*Research inconclusive if the TANF program will add to the #s of homeless after some families exhaust their 5-yr. max.

*Lack of affordable health care force many to bankrupt/lose home

*Dom. Viol. believed to play increasing role in # homeless women.

*Seems to be a rise in #s of homeless youth. 46% of these in one study reported being physically abused in their homes; 17% reported forced sex in their homes.

*Some creative reforms seem to be coming for the private sector. Enterprise Foundation helped build 144,000 affordable hsg. units

*Gov't assistance programs have had minimal impact on hsg crisis

*Gov't programs under-funded, fragmentary, w/o clear goals.