Housing Quality in the U.S. Private Production -- The Rising Tide John C. W

John C. Weicher's review of housing quality in the U.S. suggests that there has been a general improvement in the quality of housing in America during each of the decades since World War II. Moreover, he maintains that the rising tide has lifted all boats, and that the housing situation for all groups, including the poor, has steadily improved during this time.

Weicher cites a number of studies showing advances in the numbers of adequate housing units and reductions in the number of inadequate units. While many inconsistencies between the various studies exist, such things as plumbing, crowding, and physical structure were often considered. The studies show steady reduc-tions in the percentage of occupied substandard units during the 1970s (p. 49). Even for low income groups and minorities, the studies showed that improvements occurred in nearly all areas of housing adequacy between 1973 and 1983, except for the presence of rats and mice (p. 51).

The improvements in the housing situation were attributed to rising real incomes, falling relative prices for housing, govern-ment programs to clear slums and subsidize housing, and new private housing construction which results in a process called "filtering." The author presented data showing increases in median real incomes during the 1960s and 1970s, and a dramatic 18% decrease in real housing costs for renters during the 1970s. The real costs of homeownership increased during th

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almost impossible tobuild units without hot and cold water and flush toilets. But Apgar points out that there have not been sharp reductions in the numbers of units that can be considered dilapidated. Data from annual housing surveys in the late-1970s and early-1980s showed increasing numbers of housing units with leaky roofs, cracks or holes in walls or ceilings, inadequate heat, and various types of maintenance and upkeep deficiencies (pp. 69-70). A slight decline in the total number of structurally inade-quate housing units was largely attributed to changes in owner-occupied units. For rental units, there was actually an increase in structurally inadequate units during the late-1970s (p. 71). Neighborhood conditions deterioriated in many areas in recent decades, and this contributes to the quality of housing. Crime, abandoned buildings, trash and litter problems have reduced the quality of housing in many areas where lower-income households are clustered. Again, this affects renters more than owners: between 1974 and 1981, the percentage of renter-occupied units with inadequacies in the structure and/or the neighborhood increased more rapidly than did the total number of rental units (p. 73). Other studies showed that na
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Approximate Word count = 1596
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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