Life and Liberty in the Pursuit of Housing: Rethinking Renting and Owning in Post-Crisis America

Abstract

The recent housing crisis's devastating effects on U.S. households’ economic situations provides reason to examine the risks, pitfalls and assumptions underlying contemporary housing policy. This paper examines issues associated with renting and owning housing in America. It argues that housing operates as (1) a dimension of the U.S. system of stratification, (2) a method for the unfair distribution of resources in metropolitan space, and (3) a mechanism for the construction of the “other” and as a vehicle for social exclusion. Homeownership restricts people to homogeneous neighborhoods, renders low-income families and renters of all types unacceptable, makes neighborhoods fertile ground for learning who is socially undesirable, breeds class-based distinctions, and puts people in financially risky situations. Rethinking questions about renting and owning may allow consideration of how housing can play a more constructive role in pursing economic opportunities, redistribution and social and economic justice in America.