A recent policy brief from the Urban Institute (UI) suggests a radical but common-sense solution for achieving affordable housing – homeownership. UI analyst Mike Loftin says there is no shortage of other policy proposals to address the housing problem – more federal investment in building public housing, subsidies to builders of affordable apartments, dramatic increases in rent vouchers – but owning one’s own home, he says, is frequently more affordable than renting. There is a widespread idea that homeownership is for people who achieve some arbitrary level of financial success and not “appropriate” for people who are still on their path to financial security which may explain why government efforts toward affordable housing narrowly focus on the rental market.
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