Escaping the Housing Trap - by Charles L Marohn & Daniel Herriges (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Housing prices are at record highs, and millions of Americans are housing insecure in one form or another. Our housing markets are failing to provide the foundation for all Americans to have a dignified life they can afford in a good place with access to opportunity. Housing is a classic example of a "wicked problem" in planning and public policy: one involving a complex system with many interrelated parts, which does not yield to simple prescriptive fixes nor to pat ideological explanations. This is why, although nearly everyone agrees that we have a "housing crisis" today, there is no broad consensus on the nature and causes of that crisis, let alone what should be done about it. Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Solution to the Housing Crisis will identify the tension between the "housing as a financial product" approach that dominates housing markets and the "housing as shelter" constraint that all of us as humans share. In the former, fiscal and monetary policy works to push the price up, combining with many local factors that also accelerate housing prices upward. Yet, to meet the shelter needs of Americans, prices need to come down, or at least be aligned with what people can broadly afford."--

Book Synopsis

Housing is an investment. Investment prices must go up. Housing is shelter. When the price of shelter goes up, people experience distress.

This is the housing trap. It's time to escape. In Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis, renowned urbanists Charles (Chuck) Marohn and Daniel Herriges introduce a first-of-its-kind discussion of the tension between housing as a financial product and housing as shelter. This is the key insight that's been missing from the Housing Crisis Conversation; and the insight that can help cities fight back against the crisis from the bottom-up.

This book offers a serious, yet accessible, history of housing policy in the United States and explains how it led us to this point in time: where we face a market that is rigged against people who, only a few decades ago, could have been homeowners or stable, long-term rentals.

Only local change, on a neighborhood or city-wide scale, can begin to restore balance to the housing market.

Escaping the Housing Trap is the must-read resource for everyone with a stake in the future of housing in America--and that means everyone. Readers will find:

• Discussions of housing as an investment and how the country's neighborhoods are being transformed by the introduction of large amounts of investment
• Explorations of housing as shelter, including discussions of zoning policy and NIMBYism
• A comprehensive overview of the Strong Towns approach to solving the American housing crisis

From the Back Cover

UNDERSTAND THE MODERN HOUSING CRISIS, WITH LOCAL SOLUTIONS FOR LEADERS

There are two different, mutually incoherent conversations about the housing market: the one conducted by "housing" people and the one among "finance" people. In Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis, renowned urbanists Charles L. Marohn, Jr. and Daniel Herriges explore both viewpoints, providing rational steps that local leaders can begin to take right now to make room for a new housing paradigm.

This book covers everything there is to know about housing in America, from the creation of the modern home mortgage and the problems it was intended to solve, all the way to the modern public policy environment that governs housing as shelter and the political forces that influence it. The authors take a deep dive into important big picture concepts, such as discussions of zoning policy and NIMBYism, the disempowering and destructive idea of cataclysmic money in housing communities, and more.

Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis is an essential read for planners, advocates, experts, and all individuals who wish to understand and help solve society's housing problems of today.

About the Author

CHARLES L. MAROHN, JR. is the president and co-founder of Strong Towns, a nationally-recognized nonprofit media organization working to shape the conversation on growth, development and the future of cities. Strong Towns supports a model of development that allows America's cities, towns, and neighborhoods to grow financially strong and resilient.

DANIEL HERRIGES serves as Senior Editor for Strong Towns, and has been a regular contributor since 2015. He has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota, with a concentration in Housing and Community Development.