• Capitalism: Economic system based on private property, market competition, and profit motives.

• Neoliberalism: A modern economic philosophy advocating free markets, deregulation, privatization, and reduced government spending.

• Classical Liberalism: Emphasizes individual freedom, limited government, and free markets.

• Egalitarian Liberalism: Combines individual freedoms with policies aimed at reducing economic and social inequalities.

• Keynesian State/Social Welfare State: Advocates for active government intervention to manage the economy and provide safety nets like public housing, healthcare, and unemployment benefits.

Roll-Back/Roll-Out Pattern of Neoliberal Policy

• Roll-Back: Reduction of government interventions (e.g., cutting public housing programs).

• Roll-Out: Introduction of market-based solutions (e.g., housing vouchers, privatization of social services).

Clarissa’s Struggle in Invisible in Austin and Neoliberal Housing Policy

• Clarissa’s housing instability illustrates how neoliberal policies prioritize market-based solutions, creating barriers for low-income individuals amid insufficient social safety nets.

HOPE VI Program and Its Effect on Public Housing

• A federal initiative replacing decaying public housing with mixed-income developments. Criticized for displacing original residents and reducing low-income housing stock.

Shift from Public Housing to the Housing Network

• Public Housing: Government-led construction and management.

• Housing Network: Collaborative, decentralized approach involving nonprofits, private developers, and tax incentives like LIHTC.

Political Collapse of Public Housing vs. Support for Housing Network

• Public housing suffered from stigmatization, mismanagement, and underfunding. The housing network appeals politically due to public-private partnerships and perceived efficiency.

Importance of LIHTC and Housing Choice Voucher (“Section 8”)

• LIHTC: A major federal program incentivizing private developers to build affordable housing.

• Section 8 Vouchers: Help low-income families afford private-market rentals, but face challenges like long waiting lists and landlord resistance.

Inherent Virtues of Property Taxes

• Transparency: Easily understandable tax based on property value.

• Simplicity: Straightforward to assess and collect.

• Hard to Cheat: Difficult to evade due to tangible property ownership.

Racial Wealth Gap in the United States and Unequal Property Taxation

• Black households often face overassessment for taxes but underappraisal in sales, exacerbating wealth disparities.

Simultaneous Overassessment and Underappraisal for Black Americans

• Black homeowners disproportionately face inflated property tax bills but lower home sale valuations, limiting wealth accumulation.

Meaning of Progressivity in Federal Income Taxes

• Tax rates increase with income, ensuring higher earners pay a larger share of their income, promoting equity.

Meaning of “Marginal Tax Rate”

• The tax rate applied to the last dollar of income earned. Affects decisions on additional work or investment.

Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID)

• Allows homeowners to deduct mortgage interest payments from taxable income. Benefits wealthier homeowners disproportionately while excluding renters.

Critiques of MID

1. Fails to significantly promote homeownership.

2. Benefits wealthier households the most.

3. Ignores renters entirely.

Capital Gains Exclusion

• Homeowners can exclude significant profits from home sales from taxation, further privileging property owners over renters.

Fair Housing Act of 1968 and Its Significance

• Landmark law prohibiting housing discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or sex. Addressed systemic barriers but struggled with enforcement.

Meaning of “Redlining”

• The practice of denying mortgages or insurance to areas based on racial composition, perpetuating segregation and disinvestment.

Racial Segregation as Deliberate Policy

• Federal, state, and local governments enacted zoning laws, mortgage restrictions, and public housing placement that institutionalized segregation.

Persistence of Segregation Post-Fair Housing Act

• Techniques:

  • Municipal boundaries and school district zoning.

  • Exclusionary zoning to block affordable housing.

  • Misallocation of subsidies away from affluent areas.

Great Migration

• Two waves (WWI and WWII) saw Black Americans move from the rural South to urban North, West, and South for better opportunities, reshaping housing and labor markets.

Creation/Maintenance of Predominantly Black Neighborhoods

• Through racial covenants, mob violence, freeway placement, public housing siting, and discriminatory lending practices.

“The Black Tax”

• Devaluation of homes in Black-majority areas reduces wealth-building opportunities for Black homeowners.

Extreme Car Dependence and Housing Unaffordability

• Urban parking requirements raise housing costs; car ownership consumes income that could be used for housing.

Decisionmaking Differences: Freeway vs. Transit Expansions

• Freeways: State-led, federally funded, no public vote required.

• Transit: Requires public votes and competitive federal grants, facing greater hurdles.

Induced Demand

• Expanding freeways often worsens congestion by encouraging more driving, as seen in Houston’s Katy Freeway.

Vehicle Speed and Pedestrian Danger

• Fatality risk for pedestrians increases exponentially with vehicle speed, highlighting the need for speed control measures.

Pedestrian Death Demographics

• Most at risk: Elders, low-income individuals, Black and Hispanic people, suburban residents, and those in Sunbelt states.

Suburbanization of Poverty

• Poverty increasingly shifts to car-dependent suburbs, where inadequate transit and pedestrian infrastructure worsen safety risks.

Rising Pedestrian Deaths in the US

• Causes include vehicle size, suburbanization of poverty, and zoning, while other countries improve safety through systemic measures.

Solutions to Pedestrian Deaths

1. Automated traffic enforcement.

2. Road diets (narrowing streets).

3. Vision Zero (zero traffic death initiatives).

Sea Level Rise and Coastal Communities

• Rising seas threaten property and infrastructure, especially in densely populated coastal areas, forcing hard adaptation choices.

Short-Termism in Climate Decisionmaking

• Politicians often focus on immediate gains, delaying necessary long-term investments to combat climate risks.

Cost-Benefit Analysis in Climate Infrastructure

• Infrastructure prioritization often undervalues low-income and renter communities, favoring high-value property areas.

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI)

• Areas where development meets wilderness, prone to wildfires and other environmental risks due to housing encroachment.

Environmental Justice

• Efforts to address and correct the unequal exposure of marginalized populations to environmental hazards like pollution and disasters.

Ripple Effect in Housing

• Expensive housing markets push people to risk-prone areas like the WUI, exacerbating vulnerability to natural disasters.

Insurance Markets and Fire-Prone Areas

• Rising premiums or policy denials force communities to confront housing sustainability in fire-risk regions.

“The Housing Theory of Everything”

• Suggests that housing scarcity underlies many societal issues, from economic inequality to climate vulnerability.

Housing Market Indicators

• Median Multiple: A measure of housing affordability, calculated as the median house price divided by the median household income. It indicates how many years of income are required to buy a median-priced home.

• Rental Cost Burden: The percentage of household income spent on rent. A household is considered "rent burdened" if it spends more than 30% of its income on rent.

• Homeless Population: Refers to the number of people experiencing homelessness, which serves as an indicator of extreme housing market failures.

• Housing Starts: The number of new residential construction projects initiated during a specific time period, reflecting the health of the construction sector and housing supply trends.

Shift Over Time from Quality to Quantity as the Biggest Housing Problem in the US

• Historically, the primary concern was the quality of housing, with many homes lacking basic amenities. Over time, as housing quality improved, the focus shifted to housing quantity, driven by increasing demand, affordability crises, and population growth.

Building Codes

• Before and During Construction: These codes set minimum safety, environmental, and efficiency standards for building design and construction.

• Building Code Enforcement (After Construction): Involves inspections and penalties to ensure structures remain compliant with safety and maintenance standards.

Demographic Trends Over Past 100 Years

• Key Trends:

  • Shrinking household sizes.

  • Rise of single-person households.

  • Increased divorce rates.

  • Increased life expectancy.

• Impact on Housing Market: Higher demand for smaller, more flexible housing units; increased urbanization; and pressure on retirement housing and assisted living facilities.

Reasons Behind Demographic Changes

• Drivers:

  • Individualism: Emphasis on personal autonomy.

  • Feminism: Economic and social independence of women.

  • LGBT rights: Recognition and inclusion of diverse family structures.

  • Urbanization: Shift to cities for economic opportunities and lifestyles.

Agglomeration Economies

• Definition: Economic benefits that arise when firms and people cluster together in cities or regions.

• Relationship to Housing: Higher demand for housing in areas with agglomeration economies leads to increased prices and rents.

Structure of the Modern Homebuilding and Construction Industries

• Dominated by large developers and construction firms, with smaller players filling niche markets. Supply chains are complex, involving material suppliers, subcontractors, and regulatory compliance.

Reasons for Lack of Factory Production of Housing in the US

• Challenges: High transportation costs, lack of economies of scale, regulatory barriers.

• Exceptions: Manufactured housing ("mobile homes") offers affordability, but faces stigma and zoning restrictions.

Baumol’s Cost Disease

• Explains rising costs in labor-intensive sectors like construction, where productivity gains are limited compared to other industries.

Market Cycle in Housing

• Housing markets follow cyclical patterns, including phases of expansion, peak, contraction, and recovery, influenced by economic conditions and interest rates.

Great Recession and Its Effect on the Construction/Homebuilding Industry

• The 2008 financial crisis caused a sharp decline in homebuilding, massive layoffs in construction, and a slow recovery in housing starts.

Construction Industry Workforce Trends

• Aging workforce, labor shortages, and reliance on immigrant labor. Challenges include skill gaps and high injury rates.

Structure of Low-End Rental Housing Market in US

• Characterized by aging housing stock, limited investment, and landlords often prioritizing profit over maintenance, leading to substandard living conditions.

Threadbare Social Safety Net in US for Low-Income Renters

• Limited public housing, insufficient subsidies like Section 8 vouchers, and long waiting lists leave many renters vulnerable.

Informal Homestead Subdivisions

• Unregulated developments often lacking basic infrastructure, common in rural or peri-urban areas with low land costs.

Seller Financing in Informal Homestead Subdivisions

• Buyers without access to traditional loans rely on seller financing, which often includes high interest rates and limited consumer protections.

Vulnerabilities in Mobile Home Park Homeownership

• Residents own their homes but rent the land, making them vulnerable to rent hikes and eviction.