A new conception of housing justice grounded in moral principles that
appeal to the home's special connection to American life.
In response to the twin crises of homelessness and housing insecurity,
an emerging "housing justice" coalition argues that America's apparent
inability to provide decent housing for all is a moral failing. Yet if
housing is a right, as housing justice advocates contend, what is the
content of that right? In a wide-ranging examination of these issues,
Casey Dawkins chronicles the concept of housing justice, investigates
the moral foundations of the US housing reform tradition, and proposes a
new conception of housing justice that is grounded in moral principles
that appeal to the home's special connection to American life.
Dawkins examines the conceptual foundations of justice and explores the
social meaning of the American home. He chronicles the evolution of
American housing reform, showing how housing policy was pieced together
from layers of housing and land-use policies enacted over time, and
investigates the endurance--from the founding of the republic through
the postwar era--of the owned single-family home as the embodiment of
national values. Finally, Dawkins considers housing justice, drawing on
elements of liberalism, republicanism, progressivism, and pragmatism to
defend a right-based conception of housing justice grounded in the ideal
of civil equality. Arguing that any defense of private property must
appeal to the interests of those whose tenure is made insecure by the
institution of private property, he proposes a "secure tenure" property
regime and a "negative housing tax" that would fund a guaranteed housing
allowance.
