Social Housing Could Help Bridge the State–Local Divide in the Desirability of Producing More Affordable Housing

Abstract

The lack of affordable housing throughout much of the United States is partly due to a disconnect between the benefits that states and regions gain from increased housing development and the costs, both real and perceived, that local areas face when allowing it. In this Field Note, we explore the potential of “Social Housing”—a policy innovation, broadly defined here as government-coordinated housing projects in which rents above operating costs for market-rate units help fund more affordable units within the same development—to address this issue. We chose California as a case study to examine how mixed-income developments could improve access to low-income housing, especially where it is most needed, by reducing local opposition and aligning state and local incentives to produce this type of housing more effectively. Recognizing the challenges, we suggest that well-designed Social Housing could serve as an effective policy tool for a state facing an affordable housing shortage.