How Would Housing Assistance Reforms Affect Poor Americans?

Guest: Alex Schwartz, PhD, Professor at Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at the New School, and Author of “Housing Policy in the United States” Housing in America is expensive and the national system to subsidize rent for low-income Americans doesn’t come close to filling the need. Only one in four families who qualify to receive housing assistance actual gets it, the rest are stuck on waiting lists that are years long. A new proposal from the Trump Administration aims to put the housing assistance system on a more financially sustainable path. But the suggested changes will mean tripling the rent currently paid by the poorest families. That’s attracted a lot of criticism from housing advocates and experts.