In Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis , renowned urbanists Charles L. Marohn, Jr. and Daniel Herriges explore the perpetual tension between the "housing as a financial product" approach that dominates housing markets, which has led to record high housing prices and millions of Americans experiencing housing insecurity in one form or another, and the "housing as shelter" constraint that all of us as humans share--a requirement for a dignified life with access to opportunity. The first third of this book addresses the history of housing finance, from the creation of the modern home mortgage and the problems it was intended to solve, to the ways in which the objective of rising home prices has become ever more entangled with the health of the U.S. financial system as a whole. The second third of the book covers the public policy environment that governs housing as shelter: where it is built, what can and cannot be built, and the political forces that come to bear on these questions. Understanding both prior sections lays the groundwork for the third and final section, which discusses rational steps that local leaders can begin to take right now to make room for a new housing paradigm: one that is able to rapidly produce housing on a local scale in response to local needs.

Shining light on the underlying incoherencies and inefficiencies in modern housing and providing a blueprint for taking action now to solve the problem on a local scale, Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis is a can't-miss resource for urban and regional planners, housing experts, social justice advocates and professionals, and everyone with a stake in the future of housing in America.