Husock, Howard.  America’s Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake: the Failure of American Housing Policy.  Ivan R. Dee Publishing.  Chicago (2003).

Husock begins with an explanation of why he wrote the book and for what purposes he intended the book to serve.  He is critical of the low-income housing policy in the United States because of its misguided attempts to help those in need have failed and have caused the trillion-dollar housing mistake that our nation must now deal with.  In fact he states, anti-poverty programs have actually harmed those that it set out to help and has caused serious and continuing, collateral damage in our cities.  The solutions that government has created for public low-income housing have not worked up until this point, this book attempts explain how low-income housing can be attained in the United States.  Husock believes that subsidized housing, public housing, and housing vouchers are all ineffective answers to public housing in the United States.  Instead areas such as Charlotte, NC are revolutionizing public housing in an attempt to limit the amount of time one can live in public housing so that others in need can be assisted.  Also, non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity focus on building affordable homes for those in need and willingness to help the community as a whole.

 Husock believes that subsidized housing in the United States has been a huge mistake, one that has cost the government billions of dollars, but has yet proven to be an effective tool in public housing.  While yes subsidized housing does help people, these areas of subsidized houses often become less valuable in terms of property value.  This can create huge problems down the road for development to take place that would help to revamp this property value decrease.  He believes that the only reason that government subsidies exist today is because of myths surrounding them.  First, is that that the market will not provide adequate housing for low-income families.  Secondly, by taking profit-driven landlords out of the equation, state-supported housing can offer the poor higher-quality housing for the same rent.  Lastly, the moral qualities of the poor are a product of their housing environment.  An example given in the book is that if a child, who previously had no place to do his homework, now having his own room to do homework because of public housing so he will now be more successful.  The track record of public housing counters these claims.  Public housing is not always the answer and in fact private, affordable housing is available to those with low-income levels.

 Husock is probably the most critical of public housing projects as a solution to low-income housing for those in need of public assistance.  Public housing projects have been detrimental to cities because they have created unsafe places to live with high rates of crime.  These public housing projects also are not well kept or maintained; therefore they bring down property values which in turn hurt the cities that the projects are in.  This affects the money given to public schools, public programs, and other areas within the community.  Building public housing projects puts too many low-income people into one area which ultimately keeps them in a situation that is hardly conducive to becoming more successful; its not that success can not happen here it is just much more difficult.  Public housing projects within the United States have been an expensive failure.

Husock is also critical of housing vouchers that allow people in need of public housing or public assistance to present these housing vouchers to any landlord willing to accept them.  The main concept behind these housing vouchers is spreading out low-income families so that neighborhoods have a more diverse population of income levels.  Mostly so that property values remain high.  However, housing vouchers could have an effect on the property value of those working hard to escape public housing conditions, only in turn to be brought right back into it.  It is a viscous cycle that keeps hardworking individuals and families in these areas in which poverty and crime is everywhere.  Housing vouchers have come under strong opposition from those living in areas where people are using the vouchers to live in places that they previously could not afford.  This comes from the fear that these low-income people will bring down property values and create risks in the area such as a higher crime rate.

 In response to the criticisms of United States public housing policies, Husock writes about alternatives to public housing or time limited public housing.  In Charlotte, NC the city has proposed time limited public housing in which those living with this type of assistance are given a certain amount of time to live in public housing.  The intention of this policy is to make sure those low-income level individuals and families do not abuse the system.  Instead they are given a certain amount of time in which they are to receive  assistance so that they can help themselves by getting into better housing after their time limit has ran up.  This is a more active model of public housing which makes its tenants think about and act on bettering their conditions for the future.  Also, non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity have been helpful in building affordable homes for low-income families.  Habitat for Humanity provides low-income families the chance to own their own home and generate some money.  Both in Charlotte and with Habitat for Humanity the character and integrity of the person receiving these types of assistance is taken into play in determining who is eligible to receive and who is not. 

 Husock’s book makes some very valid points in stating that public housing has failed to fulfill its end of the bargain to those in need of assistance.  The problem with the government housing policies is that they have all been extremely costly without much success in helping to better the conditions of those at low-income levels.  The government does have a difficult task in providing public housing to those in need and developing policies that will benefit communities in the end.  The government has begun to implement some new policies based upon the principles explained in this book such as time limited public housing and the character of the person moving into the public housing.  Which should be noted is extremely hard to gauge and accurately measure in the context of whether they can help to better the community.  The new government policies are more about preserving the community and making it a better place to live.

 Husock’s book is relevant today because its ideas are being implemented throughout the United States.  This is mainly due to budget decreases in public housing that before were ineffective in its application.  New developments such as time limited public housing and non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity have made the rebuilding areas of past public housing disasters possible, while helping to provide for those of low-income within our communities.