Public housing
Public housing constitutes government created or heavily subsidized housing. The most typical use of the term refers to a large amount of housing projects started by various governments during the early to mid 20th century in order to house the poor and middle class, modernize housing architecture, and eliminate what was dubbed 'urban blight' and 'slum conditions'.
Modern public housing arguably first originated in the UK, as a response to the scale and accelerating prominence of slum conditions during the Industrial Revolution. Specifically, the the slum conditions created by overcrowded living conditions near factories.
By country[edit | edit source]
USA[edit | edit source]
Today, US public housing is reserved for the poor and lower-middle class, with income limits approaching up to 80% of an areas median income. Public housing projects are often unmaintained, and its residents often under the influence of gang activity. Public housing which is both government built and subsidized is typically called, "traditional public housing" and has been publicly out of favor by federally elected politicians since the Jimmy Carter US presidential administration.
Non-traditional public housing includes "Section 8 vouchers" which replaced the previous Section 23 vouchers. These are vouchers that allow the poor and lower-middle class to rent a private apartment with funds from the government. If they have no official income source, they pay between nothing to about $50 per month. If they earn money, they pay a proportion of their monthly earnings.
Public housing in the USA is administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which coordinates with local housing authorities throughout the USA.
The originator of traditional public housing in the USA, Catherine Bauer, acknowledged that there was diminishing public support for public housing in the USA even within her lifetime, but was not totally hopeless that it couldn't be improved.
During the 1970s and 1980s the level of crime within certain public housing projects dominated by African-American gangs reached levels of violence compared to wartime violence. The worst was in Cabrini Green, a Chicago public housing project which was placed in an already crime ridden area. Priests and social workers were regularly sent to Cabrini Green.
Before the 1980s, public housing in the USA was better maintained and even sometimes utilized their own local police forces to avoid the situations later found in the 1980s
By the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, public housing was gutted, the budget for HUD slashed multiple times, and a cap was placed on all future units of Public Housing under President Bill Clinton called the Faircloth Amendment.
Japan[edit | edit source]
Public housing in Japan typically refers to 'Danchi', state built and run housing with multiple purposes over the years. Nowadays it is primarily known as subsidized rental housing for those with low income. The amount paid by the resident is proportional to their income and ranges from 3,000 yen (~$20 USD) to 50,000 yen (~$329) per month.[1]
Danchi was started in the 1950s as a response to population growth the market wasn't meeting and was managed by the state 'Japan Housing Corporation'. Another primary purpose was to help modernize Japanese housing after military defeat in World War Two.[2]
Danchi units were and are typically a spacious 41 square meters, with a genkan micro-entrance, three multi-purpose tatami rooms, metal doors, and individual bathrooms. At the time of construction, even individual bathrooms were considered luxurious to an extent.[2]
In 1965, Japan began building micro-cities of Danchi, called "New Towns". The 1970s saw the positive affect of Danchi on reducing underhousing, but instead of expanding the program, this decade saw stagnation. The 1980s and further decades saw a consumerist attitude that was often hostile to public housing.[2]
By the 1990s, Danchi was being limited to low income individuals and the elderly. And by the 2000s the unpopular Danchi neighborhoods began to be demolished.[2]
Danchi, while it still exists, is often stigmatized today. Family and friends are often relunctant to admit a member is living in one. However, there still exists positive reporting of Danchis within Japana.
Existing aversion to danchi's today is partially because the Japanese government has not maintained funding for these units that are in full good faith, resulting in physical dilapidation. While the dilapidation is perhaps not on the scale of US public housing, it can still involve mold and cracks. Additionally, Danchi units haven't adjusted to modern expectations such as efficient insulation and disability support for the elderly, such as elevators. Coupled with stigmatization of the residents, the lack of structural disability support created a modern situation of Kodokushi: elderly people being socially isolated, and discovered passed away in their residences long after the fact. According to ArchDaily, non-elderly danchi residents are reported to also avoid interaction outside of Danchi's to an extent, due to embarrassment of their social status. The situation is not hopeless for the residents however, young architects and housing developers have expressed a desire to help the government rebuild these units.[2]