Table Of ContentRethinking Rental Housing
iii
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS PHILADELPHIA
RETHINKING
RENTAL
HOUSING
I
John I. Gilderbloom Richard P. Appelbaum
Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1988 by Temple University. All rights reserved
Published 1988
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1984
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gilderbloom, John Ingram.
Rethinking rental housing.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Rental housing-Government policy-United States.
2. Housing policy-United States. I. Appelbaum,
Richard P. II. Title.
HD7288.85.U6G55 1987 363.5'8 87-1958
ISBN 0-87722-498-6 (alk. paper) - ISBN 0-87722-538-9 (pbk. : aIk. paper)
FOR PATRICIA AND KAREN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank a large number of people and organizations who were
helpful in putting this book together over the past six years.
For financial support, we thank the following: Shalan Foundation, Seed
Fund, Sunflower Foundation, National Science Foundation, California Policy
Seminar, Social Science Research Council, W. H. Ferry, Stanley Sheinbaum,
Mary Ann Mott, Katherine Tremaine, California State Department of Housing
and Community Development, California Senate Rules Committee, City of
Orange (New Jersey) Housing and Community Development Program, City of
Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Division, City of Madison (Wisconsin)
Planning Department, University of Houston Department of Sociology,
University of Houston Office of Sponsored Programs Research Initiation
Grants, University of California Social Process Research Institute, University
of California Academic Senate, and University of California Department of
Sociology.
The following people read the entire manuscript and offered invaluable
suggestions: Michael Ames, Jennifer French, Roger Friedland, Joe Feagin,
Tina Mougouris, Patricia Gilderbloom, Dennis Keating, Barbara Lees, Rich
ard Rich, Mark Rosentraub, Peter Marcuse, and Annette Pierson. Portions of
this book were also reviewed by William Bielby, Richard Berk, Janet Chafetz,
Richard Flacks, Harvey Molotch, Allan Heskin, Derek Shearer, Chester
Hartman, Peter Dreier, Russell Curtis, Helen Rose Ebaugh, William Simon,
and Nestor Rodriguez. Essential computer assistance was provided, at various
stages, by Joan Murdoch, David Romero, James Stimson, Simon Gottschalk,
Jin Jin He, Todd Glasser, and John Richardson. Patricia Gilderbloom, Tina
Mougouris, and Annette Pierson were instrumental in organizing and checking
the bibliography. Data for this project were collected, again at various stages,
by John Richardson, Anthony Gressinger, John Gartland, Ross Follett, Miriam
Baker, Dede Boden, Gale Trachtenberg, Neal Linson, Kevin Hunter, Nancy
Desser, Annette Allen, and Patricia Gilderbloom. Special thanks to Karen
Shapiro for technical and spiritual assistance. Mimi Hinnawi and Susan Erwin
expertly read the page proofs. Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to
Temple University Press for design, production, and editorial assistance.
Chapter 5 is partially adapted from Gilderbloom (l985c) and Gilderbloom
and Appelbaum (1987). Chapter 8 is partially adapted from Appelbaum
(l985b and 1986d). Chapter 9 is based on a National Comprehensive Housing
Program that was drafted over a three-year period by the members of a national
VB
I
viii Acknowledgments
task force on housing policy, working under the auspices of The Institute for
Policy Studies' Alternative Program for America Project (see Appelbaum et al.
1986). Task force members include Emily Paradise Achtenberg, Richard P.
Appelbaum, John D. Atlas, Art Collings, Peter Dreier, Bob Goodman,
Chester Hartman, Jackie Leavitt, Dan Lindheim, Peter Marcuse, Christine
Minnehan, Carole Seiter Norris, Mike Rawson, Florence Roisman, Joel
Rubenzahl, and Michael Stone. Richard Appelbaum took overall responsibility
for final drafting of the program, although key components were initially
drafted by other task force members, in particular Emily Achtenberg, Peter
Dreier, Chester Hartman, Jackie Leavitt, Peter Marcuse, Christine Minnehan,
Carole Seiter Norris, and Michael Stone. The task force was funded by grants
from the Shalan Foundation, Sunflower Foundation, and Seed Fund. The
version in this chapter departs in some significant ways from the original
program, and is of course the full responsibility of the authors of the present
volume.
Both authors made equal contributions in the research, writing, and
production of this book. The order of their names was randomly determined.
The authors alone bear responsibility for the book's contents.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Joe R. Feagin xi
PART I
THE CRISIS IN RENTAL HOUSING
Introduction and Overview 3
2 Economic, Social, and Political Dimensions of the Rental Housing
Crisis 15
PART II
THE STRUCTURE OF RENTAL HOUSING MARKETS
3 The' 'Frictionless" Market: Conventional Explanations of the
Determinants of Rent 45
4 The Federal Government and National Housing Policy 68
5 The Failure of Market Allocation: Causes of High Housing Costs 83
6 Local Supply Restraints and Housing Costs 108
PART III
THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY
7 Rent Control and the Tenants' Movement 127
u.s.
8 European Housing in the Postwar Period: Some Lessons for
Policy 150
u.s.
9 Some Proposals for Housing Policy 181
PART IV
CONCLUSIONS
10 The Institutional Structure of Rental Housing Markets 207
Notes 225
References 241
Author Index 269
Subject Index 274
ix
