Kennedy Discusses Public Housing

"Let's bring capitalism to the third world in America," urged public housing advocate and Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Mass.) last night at the Institute of Politic's ARCO Forum.

In a discussion about America's housing problems, most notably availability and affordability of housing, Kennedy and other panelists disagreed about the federal government's role in inner-city housing.

Professor William C. Apgar, a lecturer in the Kennedy School of Government and the Executive Director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, moderated the panel discussion, which attracted more than 40 people. The panel also included Jim Johnson, CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Kathryn Oliver, CEO of Chicago's Dwellings Association and Chair of the National Housing Conference.

Johnson spoke first, outlining a plan for increasing home ownership in America. He highlighted communication, counseling and community, stressing the importance of quasi-governmental organizations like FannieMae, which works to simplify the mortgage lending process and increase awareness of mortgage opportunities.

By printing pamphlets in multiple languages and encouraging equality in the real estate process, FannieMae tries to break down the substantial information barrier between mortgage financiers and American consumers, Johnson said.

Johnson also said he favors a multifaceted approach in housing issues, calling for a "national economic policy that focuses on education to increase income."

Oliver narrowed the focus of the discussion, offering potential solutions to Chicago's inner-city housing problem which included downsizing the role of the federal government in housing development. She called for a "new paradigm" where profit and non-profit organizations would work together to develop an economically diverse community of public housing mixed with middle-income condominiums.

This new structure of public housing would "put poor people in the mainstream," Oliver said.

Kennedy, the most strident of the speakers, declared his support for the 1960's programs of Presidents John F. Kennedy '40 and Lyndon B. Johnson, policies which established the present public housing system.

He blasted the federal government for failing to subsidize public housing, citing this as the primary reason for the disintegration of America's inner-cities.

Since 1994, federal funding for housing and homelessness has been cut more than 20 percent, Kennedy said, linking this figure to the homeless population.

In a thinly veiled slap to Oliver's more conservative plan of urban renewal, he cautioned the audience to beware of "new paradigms."