The Constitution of Private Property: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Mexico Housing Policies

Abstract

The housing policies and practices of different countries are shaped by both local concerns, as read through the prism of specific histories and contextual requirements, as well as the nation's overall imbrications into the conflicting currents of modernity. Paradoxically, unlike their financially blessed North American counterparts, successive state and federal Mexican governments have throughout the 20th century developed innovative planning and policy responses to a continuing crisis in the provision of low-income housing. This article analyzes the legal, philosophical, and cultural contexts that underpin both U.S. and Mexican policy procedures and the markets through which they are materially manifested. We bring together the notions of Hispanic Capitalism, Latin American nationalism, and the effects of modernity on both countries to explain the two nations' different approaches to low-income housing policy.