8.1 Chapter Reading Guide
Elizabeth B. Pearce
This chapter examines how families live in the United States, as well as where they live and whom they live with. It is focused on the current experiences families are having with houselessness (the term is considered more respectful than homelessness) and housing insecurity. As you read, you will look at how power and oppression have played significant roles in whether or not families obtain housing and how past practices still affect today’s families. There are several solutions to the current housing problems suggested in this chapter.
The reading is designed to help you meet the following chapter objectives. Preview those to have an idea of where you are headed. You may also want to preview the key terms that follow. These terms will be bolded the first time they appear in the chapter. You can read the definitions here and also in the hyperlinks.
Chapter Learning Objectives
- Describe where and how families live in the United States.
- Define houselessness and housing insecurity.
- Explain institutional barriers and inequities in home ownership and which families are affected.
- Define redlining, bluelining, and the Fair Housing Act.
- Relate economics and power to home ownership.
- Analyze how where someone lives relates to other aspects of family life, such as health.
- Recommend some solutions to the housing challenges that families face in the United States.
- Analyze housing and equity related to one’s own observations and experiences.
Key Terms Preview
- Affordable housing: housing that can be accessed and maintained while paying for and meeting other basic needs such as food, transportation, access to work and school, clothing, and health care.
- Bluelining: real estate that is considered high risk due to low elevation and flooding due to climate change may not qualify for loans.
- Bracero program: a series of laws and diplomatic agreements initiated in 1942, when the United States signed an agreement with Mexico.
- Cost-burdened households: households that pay 30% or more of monthly income toward housing.
- Discrimination: the unequal treatment of an individual or group on the basis of their statuses (e.g., age, beliefs, ethnicity, sex).
- Environmental justice: focuses on equal protection against hazards and meaningful action to correct past discrimination.
- Fair Housing Act: an act that protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities.
- Household size: all the people occupying a housing unit.
- Houseless/houselessness: lacking a permanent place to live.
- Housing First: an approach with the belief that people need basic necessities like food and shelter before focusing on other needs such as substance use, employment, or budget.
- Housing insecurity: having a place to live but having uncertainty about meeting basic needs or needing to move frequently.
- Redlining: the discriminatory practice of refusing loans to creditworthy applicants in neighborhoods that banks deem undesirable or racially occupied.
- Residential segregation: the physical separation of two or more groups into different neighborhoods.
- Renters: a person who does not own their place of living but pays another party to live in their place of living.
- Section 8 housing: a program that authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of low-income households.
- Shelters: places and organizations that provide temporary living space for houseless families and individuals.
Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Reading Guide
Open Content, Original
“Chapter Reading Guide” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
having a place to live but having uncertainty about meeting basic needs or needing to move frequently.
the discriminatory practice of refusing loans to creditworthy applicants in neighborhoods that banks deem undesirable or racially occupied.
real estate that is considered high risk due to low elevation and flooding due to climate change may not qualify for loans.
an act that protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities.
the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
