Since 1932, Congress has passed dozens of laws aimed at making rental housing and homeownership more affordable. Many of these laws created new programs while few of the older programs were abolished. As a result, more than two dozen programs remain active today, including programs targeted for specific groups such as seniors, people with disabilities, Native Americans, veterans, and people with HIV.
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These programs fall into two broad categories: programs aimed at assisting low-income people to pay for rental housing and programs aimed at assisting middle-income people to become homeowners. Little effort has been made to assess whether the various programs are cost-effective in what they do. As a result, relative to what they produce, some are far more costly than others. Continue reading
