Rethinking Federal Housing Assistance

Federal housing assistance is stuck in a policy stalemate. Funding has stagnated and faith in the effectiveness of housing assistance has broken down. The current system for delivering federal assistance, often through public housing authorities, is sustained more by inertia and the difficulty inherent in unwinding financial obligations than by a consensus that these policies and programs are effective. The traditional justification for providing housing assistance has been undermined both by changes in the nature of housing problems faced by the poor and by the lack of evidence that these programs help improve the lives of recipients. And there are disagreements—even among advocates for these programs—about what housing assistance is expected to, or ought to, accomplish.

This event helped to unravel these concerns and tackle the questions of what can and should be done to improve federal housing policy. A panel of experts put forth ideas for revising the rationale for housing assistance, reforming the delivery system, and establishing a set of incentives for recipients to build up the assets and resources which can help people move ahead in their lives. This discussion touched on what housing assistance should be designed to accomplish, and what policies, delivery systems and program incentives are required to get us there.

Video of the event is available at right, while an MP3 audio recording is available below for download.

Participants

• Steve Redburn
  Former Chief, Housing Branch
  Office of Management and Budget
• Jeffrey Lubell
  Executive Director, Center for Housing Policy
  National Housing Conference
• Margery Austin Turner
  Director, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
  The Urban Institute

Moderator

• Reid Cramer
  Research Director, Asset Building Program
  New America Foundation