In Defense of Housing

Posted on 09 November 2018 by Peter Marcuse

In every major city in the world there is a housing crisis How did this happen and what can we do about it Everyone needs and deserves housing But today our homes are being transformed into commodities, making the inequalities of the city ever acute Profit has become important than social need The poor are forced to pay for worse housing Households are subjected to eviction and foreclosure Communities face gentrification and displacement And the benefits of decent housing are only available for those who can afford it In Defense of Housing is the definitive statement by leading urban planner Peter Marcuse and sociologist David Madden They diagnose the causes and consequences of the housing crisis and detail the need for progressive alternatives Minor policy changes will not solve they problem, they argue Rather, the housing crisis has deep political and economic roots, and therefore requries a radical response. Free Download In Defense of Housing Author Peter Marcuse For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr For some time I have been searching for a thoughtful, balanced, pragmatic critique of U.S housing policies Unfortunately, this was not it While it makes a small handful of strong ish points, it overwhelmingly is filled with dated, blindly ideological, ivory tower diatribe so disconnected from anything real or actionable It is particularly loose with facts and numbers for instance, citing that the number of homeless in New York is higher than during the Great Depression, which may be tr For some time I have been searching for a thoughtful, balanced, pragmatic critique of U.S housing policies Unfortunately, this was not it While it makes a small handful of strong ish points, it overwhelmingly is filled with dated, blindly ideological, ivory tower diatribe so disco...Good overview of housing issues and how bereft they are from mainstream political discussion It doesn t entirely fall into the leftist trap of criticism without offer of solution, but it could do with a longer discussion of paths forward.Nice exposition to several aspects of housing under capitalism, from the history of its commodification to the efforts made to make it a universal service It draws on classics such as Engel s, which I personally appreciate It also proposesor less concrete measures going forward.This book blends theory and action, withemphasis on history and theory It outlines how we got to the housing situation we are in nationally, showing the privatization of housing and how corporate interests began to trump public good The book is focused on NYC and most examples are drawn from there, but it also encompasses most of the cities in America It doesn t have too much relevance for rural areas since the issues are often different Definitely an eye opening read challenging why h This book blends theory and action, withemphasis on history and theory It outlines how we got to the housing situation we are in nationally, showing the privatization of housing and how corporate interests began to trump public good The book is focused on NYC and most examples are drawn from there, but it also encompasses most of the cities in America It doesn t have too much relevance for rural areas si...This is the best recent text on housing issues I ve read in a while Marcuse thoroughly explains the commodification, deregulation, and financialization of housing There are plenty of stats to illustrate how the better off are using real estate as an investment strategy, while the worse off have seen housing prices go up as wages have stagnated or gone down creating things like the NYC phenomenon of a near empty luxury building located a block from an overcrowded, dilapidated building.What se This is the best recent text on housing issues I ve read in a while Marcuse thoroughly explains the commodification, deregulation, and financialization of housing There are plenty of stats to illustrate how the better off are using real est...I was pretty disappointed I didn t expect this to be a rehashing of the history of public housing struggles in New York because that has been addressed in many other texts The meat of this book is in the conclusion where the authors list a s...A comprehensive explanation of the housing crisis Good for readers who want to know why house prices keep rising out of control.I wrote a review of this book here

09 November 2018

Peter Marcuse