A big, bold experiment to solve a housing shortage

When the government stepped in

Editor’s note: In a recent Now It’s History post on high-speed rail, I explored the view that Democrats should become the party of “Abundance,” which is the title of a recent book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. They argue for a liberalism that builds things, to help solve challenges like climate change and the housing shortage, which is estimated to exceed four million homes in the U.S.

Thanks to Eran Ben-Joseph, the author of the guest post published below, we now know that there was a time the federal government stepped in to solve a housing crisis. The deficit-ridden government may not be the ideal vehicle for this kind of venture today, but it’s eye-opening to consider creative approaches to solving the problem. This article was published by The Conversation and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. — Richard Galant

Believe it or not, there was a time when the US government built beautiful homes for working-class Americans to deal with a housing crisis

By Eran Ben…