New Model for Housing Finance

Murtaza Baxamusa holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and has taught courses there in urban planning and social policy. As a certified planner, he has over two decades of experience in professional practice and advocacy of affordable housing and economic development for workers. He is a nationally recognized expert on community benefits agreements.

"Housing has become increasingly unaffordable for too many Americans. It’s steep cost and staggering unaffordability is a key contributor to the new urban crisis that grips many cities in the United States and across the world. Murtaza Baxamusa provides a detailed diagnosis of the problem and outlines a broad framework for a new model housing finance and of housing policy that can lead toward more affordable housing for all."—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The New Urban Crisis"Baxamusa has written an insightful and penetrating analysis of one of the major issues facing urban America today: the dire lack of affordable housing and how this issue can be addressed. This is a key book and essential reading for the general public, policymakers, and researchers."—Leland Saito, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California"The housing question has returned with a vengeance. One major challenge is how can we develop new housing models for our current period. Murtaza Baxamusa helps us understand some of the key options and challenges. This is an important contribution to what is now a rapidly growing literature."—Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions"Inadequate past public and private housing interventions have left a legacy of inequality and segregation in our cities. This is something that cannot be addressed simply by relaxing zoning and planning regulations. New and more imaginative solutions are required and the new model for housing finance through public-private partnerships proposed by Murtaza Baxamusa in this must-read book represents an important step in the right direction."—Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics"This is a timely book that masterfully combines history, impeccable analysis and original insights to present a bold proposal that can guide housing policy-making for years to come. It is a must-read for students, urban activists, planners, legislators and all those interested in addressing the housing crisis."—Nico Calavita, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Program in City Planning, San Diego State University, co-author of Inclusionary Housing in International Perspective: Affordable Housing, Social Inclusion and Land Value Recapture"In this comprehensive and well-written book, Murtaza Baxamusa considers the history and many possible causes for today’s crisis of housing affordability. He carefully dismantles the simplistic neoliberal approaches based on more deregulation that have come to dominate much housing economics, showing that only a strategy based on stimulating the right kinds of new public and private housing supplies for the populations that most need it will address the crisis. For this, a broad and innovative new approach to housing finance is required. This is a must-read for scholars of cities and housing everywhere."- Michael Storper, University of California Los Angeles, author of Keys to the City

• IntroductionChapter 1. Inequality and the Urban Growth MachineChapter 2. A Global Problem of AffordabilityChapter 3. This Land is Your LandChapter 4. History of Public Investment in HousingChapter 5. Finance and FinancializationChapter 6. Limitations of Land-Use PlanningChapter 7. Rebuilding the Divided House