PROBLEMS WITH THE US PROGRAM APPROACH TO URBAN HOUSING: CAN EUROPE LEAD AMERICA TO A POLICY SOLUTION IN 2002 AND BEYOND?

Abstract

The history of housing and urban development in America over the past fifty years offers important lessons for the United States and Europe in 2002 and beyond. From 1950 on, housing and urban development was a series of piece-meal programs. These programs were input-oriented, and often the goal of providing adequate housing for inner city residents was displaced or minimized. Competing goals were formulated in terms of pre-existing interests of key influentials from central city businesses and governments. Using the historical method, the paper analyses this incremental program approach in terms of four specific disadvantages resulting in unintended negative consequences of the Housing Acts of 1949, 1954 and 1959. The lessons learned over the last fifty years are related to the shift from a program approach to a policy-systems approach . These lessons provide a useful backdrop for the United States and Europe to become much more serious and committed to the creation of a new 'social contract' primarily focused on housing the urban poor in integrated or mixed neighbourhoods. The European Union is at a critical crossroads in deciding its housing and urban development future as it relates to economic prosperity, intersocietal integration, and a reduction in the income inequality gaps between nations and socio-economic classes. In terms of housing policy, Europe can lead America to adopt a policy-systems solution to its current 'two Americas' dilemma.