S3E1: Introduction: How Did We Get Here?

Hosts Greg Robison and Mitali Taraikar sit down to discuss the state of affordable housing in Cincinnati and the United States as a whole. They hear from Liz Blume, who spent 30 years as a planning professional; she stresses the need for additionally affordable housing units and the increased public attention in recent years. They take a look back on the historic shift away from publicly funded housing units to subsidized housing vouchers. Liz then introduces the complicated financial system that was formed at the local level to continue the construction of affordable housing units. References Acosta, Sonya, and Erik Gartland. “Families Wait Years for Housing Vouchers due to Inadequate Funding.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 22 July 2021, www.cbpp.org/research/housing/families-wait-years-for-housing-vouchers-due-to-inadequate-funding. Aurand, A., Emmanuel, D., Clarke, M., Pish, M., &. Rafi, I. “A Shortage of Affordable Homes.” National Low-income Housing Coalition. (2024). https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/gap/2024/Gap-Report_2024.pdf “President Reagan's Remarks on Signing the Housing and Community Development Act on February 5, 1988” 2:35-3:35. https://www.google.com/search?q=Ronald+Raegan+speaking+about+housing&sca_esv Rosen, Eva. The Voucher Promise: “Section 8” and the Fate of an American Neighborhood. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2020. Thank you to our guest interview Liz Blume. Produced by Poorva Reedy, written by Iris Boyer, researched and hosted by Greg Robinson and Mitali Taraikar, and edited by Josh Johnson and Rubina Rafeeque.