Working Homelessness, Housing Policy, and Democratic Institutions

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering the lectures on working homelessness, private market dependence, historical housing policy, neoliberal economics, and democratic theory.

Market Dependence

A structural condition in which individuals rely on private landlords who prioritize profit over tenant welfare, creating barriers to housing access and increasing the risk of eviction and homelessness.

Bureaucratic Obstacles

Complex application procedures, strict criteria, extensive paperwork, and long wait times that complicate access to public assistance and frequently exclude eligible individuals.

"Not Homeless Enough"

A descriptive phrase referring to individuals in need who are excluded from government assistance programs because strict bureaucratic prioritization criteria favor only the neediest.

Section 8 Vouchers

Government housing assistance vouchers intended to reduce poverty and improve socioeconomic mobility, but whose effectiveness is limited by expiration dates, landlord rejection, and rental shortages.

Gentrification

A purposeful process that reshapes neighborhood conditions, resulting in increased housing costs and the displacement of long-term residents.

Racial Covenants

Legally enforceable contractual agreements historically attached to property deeds that prohibited the sale or rental of homes to non-white individuals until $1948$.

W.E.B. Du Bois

An American sociologist who documented systemic housing discrimination and urban living conditions experienced by African Americans in Philadelphia using ethnography and spatial mapping.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

Federal civil rights legislation enacted to prohibit housing discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex.

Predatory Lending

Unfair, misleading, or exploitative loan practices that disproportionately target low-income and racial minority communities, causing financial distress.

Dr. Sweet

An African American physician whose historical housing case illustrated the violent racial resistance that Black Americans encountered when exercising housing rights in white neighborhoods.

National Association of Real Estate Boards

A real estate industry trade organization that codified and enforced racial segregation policies by barring the sale of properties in white neighborhoods to non-white buyers.

Redlining

A systematic practice that designated minority neighborhoods (such as in Flint, Michigan) as hazardous for mortgage lending, depriving them of capital and housing investment.

Neoliberalism

An economic and political ideology asserting that unrestricted markets promote human freedom, while government interventions punish productive individuals, reward poverty, and reduce social safety nets.

Fiscal Constraint

A neoliberal policy principle focused on restricting public expenditures and cutting funding for social safety nets and housing assistance.

Privatization

The transfer or contracting out of public resources and social services to private entities, leading to higher consumer costs and reduced access for low-income households.

Deregulation

The reduction or elimination of governmental oversight in economic sectors, including finance and housing, which elevates systemic instability and vulnerability.

The Third Way

A political framework advanced by the Bill Clinton administration that sought to synthesize free-market capitalism with social democracy, solidifying neoliberal governing priorities.

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (TANF)

Federal welfare reform legislation passed under the Clinton administration that instituted strict work requirements and reshaped welfare and housing aid.

Financial Modernization Act of 1999 (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)

Legislation that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of $1933$, permitting mergers between commercial and investment banks and encouraging higher levels of speculative financial risk.

Glass-Steagall Act of 1933

Great Depression-era financial legislation designed to curb bank speculation and insolvency by mandating the separation of commercial banking from investment banking.

Crisis of Democracy

A pervasive erosion of civic engagement and public trust across social strata, driven by economic inequality, unresolved social hierarchies, and polarization.

Certification of Compliance

A local regulatory safety and habitability standard for rental housing, held by only $14\%$ of residential landlords in Detroit.

Federalist 10

An essay authored by James Madison arguing that the destabilizing effects of political factions are best controlled by establishing a large, representative republic.

Federalist 51

An essay written by James Madison arguing that political power must be divided via separation of powers and checks and balances to prevent governance abuses.

Affective Polarization

A political dynamic where negative emotional reactions, mutual animosity, and identity conflicts supersede policy deliberation, weakening democratic stability.

"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July"

An $1852$ address by Frederick Douglass condemning the contradiction between celebrated American ideals of liberty and the ongoing reality of racial chattel slavery.

Harriet Jacobs's Narrative

An autobiographical text examining the distinct experiences of enslaved women, with emphasis on maternal trauma, family separation, and sexual exploitation.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

An $1857$ United States Supreme Court ruling holding that African Americans were not citizens under the Constitution and possessed no legal standing in federal court.

United States v. Wong Kim Ark

An $1898$ Supreme Court decision affirming the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship to individuals born on U.S. soil regardless of parental race or nationality.

Trump v. Barbara

A legal case involving disputes over the scope and legal interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment concerning children of undocumented immigrants.

Celeste

A working individual diagnosed with cancer who faced eviction after an arson fire and was subsequently rejected by the Gateway Center for not meeting strict poverty criteria.

Kara

A tenant evicted after withholding rent due to a persistent lack of hot water, which resulted in her and her children sleeping in their car.

Britt

A Section 8 voucher recipient whose efforts to secure rental housing were constrained by private landlord refusal and societal stigma.

Maurice and Natalia

Low-wage workers who experienced displacement, escalating rents, credit-score barriers, health problems, and employment loss following the sale of their rented condominium.