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Unwilling to Consider Alternatives
A recent piece by columnist LZ Granderson argues that school choice is “a cover for segregation.” It is a rebuke of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which outlawed segregation in government schools, and it is an attempt to create separate but unequal schooling in the name of God. School choice, he claims is…
“Solutions” without the Full Context, Part 1
A recent article on The Conversation asserts that “building more homes won’t solve the affordable housing problem for the millions of people who need it most.” While the authors acknowledge that we need more housing, they don’t believe that this is a sufficient solution. The authors present numerous facts to bolster their argument, but these…
The Affordable Housing Crisis: Causes and Cures
In recent years, we have repeatedly been told that Texas is facing an affordable housing crisis. In June 2017, the Texas Tribune reported that “more than 2 million urban Texan households, most of them renters, are considered financially burdened by housing costs because they spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing — and…
Carrots and Sticks
ByjbpIn my book, The Affordable Housing Crisis: Causes and Cures, I examine the framework that has dominated government housing policies for the past one hundred years. No matter which party is in power, government housing policies have consistently used a combination of carrots and sticks. Carrots are used to incentivize actions desired by the government,…
The Real Obstacles to the American Dream
A recent editorial in the Dallas Morning News states that The idea of the American Dream is that anyone can start from the bottom and work their way up by their own means. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening for everyone. The editorial goes on to list five things that prove that a strong work ethic isn’t…
Those Who Can, Do
To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, try to control those who can.” Cea Weaver, a housing activists at New York’s Housing Justice for All is a prime example. Weaver has been a leading voice for tenant “protections” in New York, including a “rent stabilization” law—a euphemism for price controls—passed…