This paper examines low- and moderate-income households in the city of Philadelphia who are becoming homeowners for the first time. We examine two Nehemiah developments subsidized by the City of Philadelphia that offer newly constructed homes at well below cost. This paper uses a unique survey...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- 1. Housing Policy for the 1990s -- 2. The Nation's Housing: A Review of Past Trends and Future Prospects for Housing in America -- 3. A Strategy for Designing a Fully Comprehensive National Housing Policy for the Federal Government of the United...

This paper was presented at the conference "Policies to Promote Affordable Housing," cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, February 7, 2002. It was part of Session 4: Housing Subsidies and Finance.

Should the national government undertake policies aimed at strengthening the economies of particular localities or regions? Agglomeration economies and human capital spillovers suggest that such policies could enhance welfare. However, the mere existence of agglomeration externalities does not...