86. Angela Lee Stovall - 2023 Annual Conference: Why is Housing so Unaffordable? Causes and Solutions

Today our discussion comes from our most recent annual conference: Why is Housing so Unaffordable? Causes and Solutions. For the next twelve weeks, our discussions will revolve around the topic of housing and house prices with three subtopics. The first will be root causes, followed by an evaluation of current policy responses, and finishes with alternatives to current policy and thinking around affordability. For today’s program, we were lucky enough to have Angela Lee Stovall on the podcast. Angela is a research and policy manager for JustFix.Nyc. JustFix.Nyc is a non-profit that helps ensure livable housing standards in New York, by offering renters and tenants resources and data to help navigate the unaffordability crisis in residential housing.  In our previous talks, we’ve mentioned how buying your first home can become increasingly unattainable. But buying a house is only part of the equation. According to the Furman Center, 66% of households in New York City rent. When rent prices skyrocket, millions of people and families have to put more of their paychecks toward housing instead of other necessities. But it goes beyond housing. Our guest today helps ensure more equitable outcomes that the current market doesn’t create. By providing transparency, data, and resources, JustFix.Nyc helps ensure renters receive the same rights and dignity that homeowners have. Often, renters find it more challenging to exercise their rights, say voting for example, compared to their home-owning counterparts. By better distributing economic power, JustFix.Nyc helps to better distribute political power too. Ms. Stovall began her career as a defense attorney against eviction cases for the New York Legal Assistance Group. Recently, she worked as part of New York City Commission on Human Rights’ Income Discrimination Unit, as an intervention manager. She has constantly worked towards ending discrimination and reducing inequality.  Together, we discussed how real estate has become increasingly corporatized, why higher concentrations of land ownership in the hands of fewer people leads to inequality, and how affordable high-quality rentals can help sustain a healthy middle class. To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/