Comments on: The Great Housing Policy Distortion http://www.creativeclass.com/_v3/creative_class/2010/08/24/the-great-housing-policy-distortion/ The source on how we live, work and play Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:10:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Wendy http://www.creativeclass.com/_v3/creative_class/2010/08/24/the-great-housing-policy-distortion/comment-page-1/#comment-28662 Wendy Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:04:29 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/_v3/creative_class/?p=15736#comment-28662 Reflecting briefly on US history, it seems the only times when the population (and lobbyists, perhaps) accepted major, radical shifts were when they were connected to patriotism, frequently a war effort. The new unsubsidized housing paradigm would need to be sold as patriotic. But, doing that would likely require a level of bi-partisan support. Bipartisanism seems to be absent in the US right now. Plus, I'm not sure that enough politicians agree that subsidizing housing isn't a good thing (in fact, that may be something which both Democrats and many republicans actually agree on). It's been part of a foundation of US life--suburban home ownership, shopping at malls, owning and driving cars, motherhood, apple pie, waving a flag. Reflecting briefly on US history, it seems the only times when the population (and lobbyists, perhaps) accepted major, radical shifts were when they were connected to patriotism, frequently a war effort.

The new unsubsidized housing paradigm would need to be sold as patriotic. But, doing that would likely require a level of bi-partisan support. Bipartisanism seems to be absent in the US right now.

Plus, I’m not sure that enough politicians agree that subsidizing housing isn’t a good thing (in fact, that may be something which both Democrats and many republicans actually agree on). It’s been part of a foundation of US life–suburban home ownership, shopping at malls, owning and driving cars, motherhood, apple pie, waving a flag.

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