With the acute need for affordable housing?a national crisis?we need workable solutions. In the U.S. there are an estimated 3.5 million homeless men, women and children each year. One in four U.S. households reported spending more on their housing than is considered affordable (30 percent of household income according to the federal government). This crisis affects very low- to middle-income households and companies unable to pay salaries that adequately cover housing costs?a…
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Through her new book, Jill Shook, a housing activist in Pasadena, California, has become the de facto spokesperson of the Evangelical Left’s new social movement to combat the so-called “affordable housing crisis.” The book jacket contains endorsements by many leaders of the Evangelical Left – Tony Campolo, Ronald J. Sider, and oddly has a preface by Dr. John Perkins, who doesn’t fit the label. I found Shook’s book problematic on both empirical and theological grounds.
In Shook’s hometown of Pasadena the reality of housing affordability is the reverse of what Shook portrays. One-third of the population by the U.S. Census is low income, mostly migrants from Mexico (God bless them). If there truly was an “affordable housing crisis” for the poor, how could one third of the populous afford housing in such an upscale suburban community? By doubling-up in housing and gobbling up the lowest rungs on the housing affordability ladder, migrants have driven up rents, driven the working class out of affordable housing and driven the homeless out of former flophouses.
Contra Shook’s notion that scattered gentrification drives the poor out of affordable housing, California court decisions, urban riots partly fomented by those on the political Left, anti-landlord enforcement of eviction and relocation laws, and rent control have made migrants into a protected class in the first concentric ring of neighborhoods surrounding Los Angeles. Moreover, Shook has no comprehension that her advocacy of inclusionary housing, “smart-growth,” rent control, landlord divestiture of properties to the poor, and her opposition to gentrification actually will worsen the affordable housing crisis rather than lessen it.
Many of the housing projects described in Shook’s book entailed the removal of older, “affordable” housing units at lower densities and replacement with luxury housing at higher densities, with some units set aside for low income occupants subsidized by the rents of other tenants. Since when do we consider the entitlement to luxury housing (or a luxury car or gourmet food) a religious or Christian obligation? Shook and her co-authors fail to tell readers that nearly all of the “faith-based” affordable housing case studies in her book relied on government funding.
Theologically problematic is Shook’s disguising of the neo-Marxist advocacy model of Saul Alinsky and the Industrial Areas Foundation as what she calls the Biblical “Nehemiah Strategy” (Chap.15). The theological underpinning for her cafeteria of affordable housing models is mostly based on the Old Testament concept of “justice,” by which she means wealth redistribution by coercive government. The highly selective use of Christian scripture in the book to support secular political methods and agendas is problematic.
Shook is oblivious to Jesus’ observation that “man does not live by bread (or housing) alone.” As such she doesn’t recognize that religiosity (i.e., Max Weber’s Protestant Work Ethic) can be conducive to affording housing in a capitalist society.
Her advocacy of compulsory “inclusionary housing,” which diminishes the value of land of small property owners (not real estate developers) without “just” compensation, is contrary to the commandment “thou shall not steal.” Even Shook’s Biblical preference for homeless migrants runs against the moral of the scriptural story of King David confiscating a sheep from a rich man to give to a traveler in II Samuel 12.
The short chapter by Millard Fuller on Habitat for Humanity is worthwhile.
A Christian approach to such a complex issue as housing affordability in a modern technological society should entail the necessity of economic and sociological competency; but also an understanding that even our best efforts may lead to unintended consequences for which we need humility, grace and repentance not moral superiority and works righteousness.
In this day of pontification, this book is a welcome relief with real examples. It’s practical and informative. It’s a worthwhile read!
Jill integrates the stories of people across the nation who are looking beyond their own interests to engage through the challenges on behalf of those less fortunate. This is such a timely work in light of our escalating housing crisis. She brings to light those who refuse to “look the other way” who go beyond, “isn’t it a good idea” or “someone ought to. . .” to partner with Christ’s mandate to remember “the least of these.”