Reasonably affordable housing is a big reason why homelessness in Tokyo is so low
ten years the homeless population in Los Angeles has risen by 50%. In New York it is 60% up over the same period. San Francisco is widely thought to have America’s worst homelessness problem. Just metres from the headquarters of Twitter and Uber, people lie in the street, stupefied, or defecate in front of the passing traffic. The term “housing crisis” is bandied about too readily. But it is an apt way of describing what is happening in America’s most prosperous cities.
Governments began intervening heavily in housing markets following the second world war. They promised to build millions of homes themselves, which they would then rent to their constituents at below-market rates. In America the Housing Act of 1949 authorised the construction of over 130,000 units of public housing a year for six years. In 1950-70 Britain built some 3m units of social housing, and over the same period West Germany put up even more.
Though economists generally prefer cash benefits over the in-kind sort, a growing number are starting to argue that providing cash assistance for housing has not proven to be as effective as expected. Giving people money increases their purchasing power. In a normal market, the increase in effective demand leads suppliers to respond accordingly. Yet the supply of housing in many cities is inelastic: when demand for housing rises, extra supply does not necessarily follow.
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