A Constructivist Inquiry of the Interpretation of Federal Housing Policy In and Among Three Entitlement Jurisdictions

Author: Sheila Crowley

Dissertation School: Virginia Commonwealth University

Pages: 472

Publication Date: February 1998

Availability:
Available from the HUD USER Helpdesk P.O. Box 23268 Washington, DC 20026-3268 Toll Free: 1-800-245-2691 Fax: 1-202-708-9981 Email: oup@oup.org

Access Number: 9952

Descriptors:
Housing. Policies. Federal government. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Case studies. Housing needs.

Abstract:

The United States is experiencing a housing crisis manifested by a severe shortage of affordable housing for poor people, homelessness, persistent racial discrimination, and the social isolation of poor Black Americans in deteriorating urban neighborhoods. Social work clients are negatively affected by the failure of the housing market and public policy to assure safe, decent, affordable housing in a suitable environment for all Americans. Housing is a basic human need, and the housing crisis is a social justice issue. Changes in political power at the national level in the 1990's had significant implications for how the Federal government would address these problems, and how federal policy would be implemented in local communities. Constructivist inquiry, using qualitative methods in an alternative paradigm, is used to lean how stakeholders in three contiguous local jurisdictions that receive funds directly from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development interpreted the changes and the role of federal housing policy in local policy making. A case study report provides thick description of the values, approach to policy making, housing meanings, housing patterns, and housing needs for the local context and how the Consolidated Plan, deconcentration, and devolution are understood in that context [AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED.]

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