Gregg Colburn – författare

Using rich and detailed data, this groundbreaking book explains why homelessness has become a crisis in America and reveals the structural conditions that underlie it.In Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern seek to explain the substantial regional variation in rates of homelessness in cities across the United States. In a departure from many analytical approaches, Colburn and Aldern shift their focus from the individual experiencing homelessness to the metropolitan area. Using accessible statistical analysis, they test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain the regional variation observed across the country. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a far more convincing account. With rigor and clarity, Homelessness Is a Housing Problem explores U.S. cities' diverse experiences with housing precarity and offers policy solutions for unique regional contexts.

Affordable Housing in the United States addresses the issue of affordability of housing, or the lack thereof, going beyond conventional policy discussions to consider fundamental questions such as: What makes housing affordable and for whom is it affordable? What are the consequences of a lack of affordable housing? How is affordable housing created? And what steps can be taken to ensure all people have access to affordable housing?With the understanding that different households face different challenges, the book begins by breaking down the variables relevant to the study of affordable housing, including housing costs, household income, geographic location, and market forces, to help readers understand and quantify affordability at the individual and societal level. Part II examines the consequences of unaffordable housing, highlighting racial inequities in housing access and affordability, and multiple forms of housing precarity including eviction and homelessness. Part III explores the entities involved in providing affordable housing such as local and federal governments, regulatory agencies, non-profit organizations, and for-profit developers. In Part IV, case studies from US cities demonstrate the complex web of organizations, policies, and market conditions that influence housing affordability, revealing substantial regional variations in access and policy response. Part V proposes a future roadmap and outlines four potential states with radically different outcomes for the affordable housing system in the United States.An ideal book for graduate and undergraduate courses in economics, public policy, real estate finance and development, sociology, and urban planning, this title will also be of value to professionals and policymakers seeking to understand and improve housing affordability and access.