Post-pandemic turmoil in the housing market of America’s largest city? Laissez-faire. Leave it be. Let the private sector, master of all housing matters, perform any needed recovery.
. . . or, maybe . . . look at another approach by some entity or entities that are not themselves directly responsible for New York City’s housing mess.
One New York City councillor is proposing a dramatic reinvestment in “social housing.” It might provide one necessary bulwark against investor-wolves who savaged the landscape after the infamous 2008 housing meltdown, helping to reduce home ownership to pre-1965 levels. Under economic circumstances such as these, Councillor Brad Lander believes it is vital to keep low income residents safely housed.
Lander’s use of the term “social housing” is a deliberate extension beyond American understanding of “public housing” — that is, government built and managed housing, whether directly so or via arms-length entities such as housing associations.
Social housing, in Lander’s view, would include housing that is democratically-owned and permanently affordable. Co-op housing projects are some of the best known of these kinds of housing projects.
Read more about Lander’s plan in Staking New York City’s Future on Social Housing
