Rethinking U.S. Rental Housing Policy: Build on State and Local Innovations

With one-third of Americans in renter households, more families cannot find apartments or homes that they can reasonably afford. The nation’s housing challenges undermine other top domestic priorities: making work pay, leaving no child behind, growing the economy and protecting the environment. If we are serious about these commitments, we must build on local innovations aimed at expanding decent, moderately priced, conveniently located housing for all Americans.

Recommendations
The President should promote a housing policy under which:

• the federal government assumes responsibility for boosting the purchasing power of low-income renters to cover the cost of decent quality housing, through a combination of an increased minimum wage, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and targeted housing vouchers
• state and local governments could then take the lead in expanding the supply of moderately priced rental units, using a combination of regulatory tools and capital subsidies
• the federal government would deploy a combination of carrots and sticks to ensure that state and local governments reduce regulatory barriers that artificially constrain housing production and drive up costs, expand the stock of affordable rental housing in the locations where it is needed, and ensure full and fair access to regionwide housing opportunities for low-income and minority households

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Bruce Katz

Opportunity 08 aims to help 2008 presidential candidates and the public focus on critical issues facing the nation, presenting policy ideas on a wide array of domestic and foreign policy questions. The project is committed to providing both independent policy solutions and background material on issues of concern to voters.