Is America in a Housing Crisis?
For the past 30 years, cultural anthropologist Sherri Lawson Clark has been examining the factors driving housing instability.
Is America currently in a housing crisis? Sherri Lawson Clark says individuals at all economic levels—from homeless populations to middle-income homeowners are struggling with affordability.
A contributor to the 2020 national report Displaced in America, Clark’s research examines the intersections of housing policy with health and welfare policies. She is developing a new housing stability measure for use throughout the U.S. in addressing housing affordability and access.
Is America facing a housing crisis?
Yes. As a cultural anthropologist, I am interested in the ways in which the housing crisis is experienced at the individual level. A homeless person is experiencing a housing crisis as is the middle-income homeowner whose housing costs have risen above their income. Right now, the question is not necessarily are we in a housing crisis, but are we in a place where we are likely to see the next Great Recession. I think we’re at a place where we need to pay attention.
How does this moment compare to the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis that led to the Great Recession?
In similar ways, the 2007 subprime mortgage did not begin in 2007; it began in the mid-1990s – taking almost a decade before the financial crisis of 2008. Today, many Americans find themselves unable to afford housing. .According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the average homeowner or renter should spend no more than 30% of their monthly income on housing. My research shows that individuals are spending up to half of their monthly income on housing costs. This means there is little left over in their budgets for other necessities. According to the National Housing Conference, a non-profit organization dedicated to affordable housing, two issues define America’s new housing crisis: 1) skyrocketing housing costs and 2) the low rate of black homeownership, which is lower today than it was when segregation was legal.
What does your research show?
My current research study will shed light on the decision-making processes of homeowners and examine housing accessibility in one of East Winston-Salem, North Carolina’s high-poverty census tracts. I expect the findings will greatly aid in a newly created Housing Stability measure for use throughout the US (and beyond) in addressing housing affordability and access.
How do housing affordability challenges differ between urban centers, suburbs and rural areas?
Available housing differs across urban areas with multi-family housing, suburban areas with single-family homes, and rural areas with more manufactured housing and single-family housing. However, all these areas face housing affordability concerns, which are projected to get worse with the current changes happening at the federal level.
Who’s most at risk and what can be done?
The most vulnerable across all areas are being displaced. Now is the time to think outside the box to develop alternatives to the traditional housing models. For example, limited equity cooperatives provide long-term affordability to residents who own shares in a development. Reducing zoning restrictions allows for more multi-family and smaller homes to be built on land zoned for single-family homes.
Lawson Clark is co-author of Poverty Law and Advocacy in America: Teachers’ Manual with Field Exercise and a contributing editor to Contemporary African American Families: Achievements, Challenges, and Empowerment Strategies in the Twenty-First Century.
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