Report #6: Housing Policy
Before beginning this assignment, make certain that you have read “The Affordable Housing Crisis, Explained”
(by Patrick Sisson, Jeff Andrews, and Alex Bazeley in Curbed.com, March 2020) and “Biden Administration to
Congress: Build More Apartments and Houses!” (by Jerusalem Demsas in Vox, June 17, 2021). In addition,
watch the PBS Frontline documentary, “Politics, Poverty and Profit.” Links to the articles and to the video are
provided below. Then write a brief report that contains three separate sections that address all the points in
each set of questions. Notice the expected word count for each section (exceeding the word count will not
negatively affect your grade, but please try to stay within the range).
1. Based on the articles in Curbed and in Vox, list and describe some of the major factors responsible for
the high costs of housing in the U.S. What new approaches are the Biden Administration and
Congress considering to address this pressing issue? (approximately 150-200 words)
2. Based on the PBS Frontline documentary, briefly describe the goals and purpose of the Low Income
Housing Tax Credit Program. Indicate how the program is supposed to work and who was expected
to benefit from the program. (approximately 150-200 words)
3. List and discuss some of the problems with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program that are
highlighted in the PBS documentary. What type of changes could be made to improve the program’s
ability to achieve its goal? Given what you know about the U.S. political system and how policies are
made and implemented, what improvements do you believe would be feasible? (approximately 150-
200 words)
Be careful not to plagiarize. If you want to quote directly, do so using quotation marks (giving the page number
if available). But try to do this sparingly and simply use your own words in addressing the questions.
In your writing, use an analytical tone. In other words, try to answer the questions in a straightforward and
objective manner.
When you are done, save the document as a Word file or as an Adobe PDF file (it cannot be Google docs, etc.)
and upload it through Moodle (these parts are very important!). Papers not uploaded by the deadline will receive
a grade penalty.
WARNING: This is an individual assignment and you are to do your own work. Use of another person’s
words without proper citation or copying from another student’s paper is considered plagiarism. All papers are
checked and retained in a plagiarism software program to identify cheating. Any suspicion of plagiarism or
other violations of the university’s academic conduct policies are turned over to the Dean of Students.
Links to the articles and the video:
Vox: “Biden Administration to Congress: Build More Apartments and Houses!”
Curbed: “The Affordable Housing Crisis, Explained”
PBS Frontline Video: “Poverty, Politics and Profit”
