New York City is well-known for the special challenges itfaces in providing the largest urban population in theUnited States with quality affordable housing. The city’shousing problems are frequently the subject of intense debate.It is sometimes said that housing problems in New York Cityare...

[...]This paper reexamines the debate over the appropriate formof housing assistance. First, we briefly summarize and evaluate arguments in favor of demand-oriented housing subsidies(such as Section 8 vouchers) and supply-oriented housingsubsidies (such as production subsidies). We conclude...

[...]This exploratory paper first tests whether homeownershiphas equally positive effects for children of low-income andhigher income families. Focusing on the low-income group, itthen examines whether, and how, these homeownership effectsare influenced by neighborhood attributes. The next...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s(HUD) Moving to Opportunity for Fair HousingDemonstration, or MTO, is a large, federally funded socialexperiment designed to test whether improved neighborhoodopportunities may significantly affect the life chances of lowincomepublic...

This paper draws on a more extensive Joint Center for HousingStudies assessment of the CRA, funded by the FordFoundation. The larger study not only assesses the impact ofthe CRA on home purchase and home refinance lending, it alsopresents commentary on the CRA’s impact on small-businessand...

[...]There are, of course, more traditional sources of privatesectorcapital for these markets. First among them is theCommunity Reinvestment Act. As we heard earlier, and asmany of us know firsthand, the act has had a dramatic effect interms of directing private-sector resources into urban...

In both Britain and the United States, people have been moving awayfrom the inner cities to suburban developments, often leaving behindconcentrations of poverty and decaying neighbourhoods. Anne Power’spaper focuses on the British situation. As Britain comes to terms with theimplications of...

Area-based polices have become a significant part of the new LabourGovernment’s approach to tackling social exclusion. This paper reviewsthe long-running debate about whether area-based policies can make asignificant impact on poverty and social exclusion. There is a strongtradition of...