不是联邦所赋予的权利，因此几年后对一个家庭停止供给意味着给另一个同样需要救济的家庭一个喘息的机会。And unlike welfare , housing aid is not a federal entitlement , so taking it away from one family after a few years would provide a break for an equally deserving family .

8“这是显而易见的事，”大卫·史密斯——波士顿的一位廉价房的倡导者说，“你不能让内在矛盾无限地延续。”“It’s a no-brainer, ”says David Smith ,an affordable-housing advocate in Boston .“You can’t sustain the internal contradiction of no limits.”

9问题的根源是廉价房的供需，或者更准确地说，工作地点附近的廉价房的供需之间极不协调。The root of the problem is the striking mismatch between the demand for and the supply of affordable housing -or , more accurately , affordable housing near jobs .据哈佛大学住宅联合研究中心提供的数据，现在有1,500万个家庭至少把他们一半的收入用于支付住房费用；许多人为了住房甚至在医疗保健、照顾儿童和食品等方面节省开支。Fifteen million families now spend at least half their income on housing , according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies ;many skimp on health care., child care and food to do so .其他人为了减少租金，居住条件极为拥挤，研究表明，拥挤的居住条件与高犯罪率、学习成绩差、以及健康状况不佳紧密相关；仅洛杉矶就有62万户家庭多人共居一室。Others reduce their rents by overcrowding , which studies link to higher crime rates ,poorer academic performance and poorer health;Los Angeles alone has 620000 homes with more one person per room .其他工作者居住在较为便宜的社区，忍受着越来越长距离的交通往返，这种现象被称为“驾驶以保生活质量”。Other workers are

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enduring increasingly long commutes from less expensive communities ,a phenomenon known as “driving to qualify.”

10这造成各种不良结果——孩子们看不到父母；当汽油价格飙升、城市向外扩张、道路上堵满了长途通勤的打工者、他们的汽车排放着温室气体，劳动者根本就入不敷出。This creates all kinds of lousy outcomes --children who don’t get to see their parents ,workers who can’t make ends meet when gas prices soar ,exurban sprawl ,roads clogged with long-distance commuters emitting greenhouse gases .费尔法克斯县监督委员会的会长凯西·哈金斯说：“我认为如果我们迫使人们平均每天四个小时呆在汽车里，我们就无法建立强大的社区。”廉价房也可以使社区具有竞争力；如果打工者没钱住在那里，我们还真不知道费尔法克斯县怎能一直创造就业机会。 I don’t think we’re creating strong communities by forcing people into their cars four hours a day ,says Cathy Hudgins ,chairwoman of the housing committee for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors . Affordable housing also helps make communities competitive ;it’s not clear how Fairfax can keep creating jobs if workers can’t afford to live there .

11为促进廉价房，地方官员最好不要挡在路上——不要要求一英亩最小面积和两车位的车库、不要阻止低收入和高密度的项目。The best thing local officials can do to promote affordable housing is to get out of the way --stop requiring one-acre lots and two-car garages ,and stop blocks low-income and high-density projects .

12另一方面，联邦预算由华盛顿政界人士决定。但是，美国国会自1986年施行低收入住房税收抵免政策以来没有再支持过新的建设项目，该政策每年造

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就近100,000套廉价住房，足以取代被拆除或被转变为市场化招租的那些住房总数的一半。Washington politicians ,on the other hand ,have the federal budget at their disposal . But congress hasn’t supported new construction since the Low-income Housing Tax Credit of 1986 ,which creates nearly 100000 units of affordable housing a year ,enough to replace half the units that are torn down or converted to markets rents .布什在2000年和2004年的竞选中提出了房屋所有权税收抵免政策，这是一项极好的政策，但是他最终竟然没有实行。 Bush proposed a home -ownership tax credit during his 2000and 2004 campaigns ,but it turn out to be rare tax cut he didn’t pursue .一项等待国会投票的法案可能会把一些联邦特许机构——如房利美——的利润按照一定的百分比转移到国家廉价房信托基金名下，但这项法案似乎停滞不前。唯一的用国家力量促进支付能力的办法并不是有关住房的办法；例如，有一个方法可以让劳动者更能够负担得起住房费用，那就是提高他们的收入——通过提高最低工资、降低工资税或扩大收入税收抵免等方式。 A bill pending in Congress would divert a percentage of profits from federally chartered institutions such as Fannie Mae to a national affordable-housing trust fund ,but it seems stalled . The only affordability ideas with any traction at the national level are not really housing ideas; for example ,one way to make housing more affordable to workers would be to raise their incomes --through higher minimum wages ,lower payroll taxes or an expanded Earned Income tax Credit .

13解决廉价房危机的一个明确办法：房地产市场崩溃。There is one clear solution to the affordable -housing crisis:a real estate crash.这是一个能够吸引媒体关注的住房问题——因为这会伤害有房户。It’s the one housing issue that attracts

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media attention -because it would hurt the Owns.但是对于使用风险贷款的低收入房屋所有人来说放松价格可能是毁灭性的，另一方面对于无房者来说，它也不会带来居者有其屋的结果。But while an easing of prices could be devastating for lower -income Owns with risky mortgages ,it probably wouldn’t bring home ownership within reach for many Own-Nots. 价格下降还有很大的空间；在2000年，费尔法克斯2／3的房屋销售价格不高于$250,000，但去年只有不到1／20的房屋以此价格出售。即便价格小幅下滑都可能引发建设减速，从而使中等收入家庭缺乏廉价房的局面变得更糟糕。Prices have too far to fall ;in 2000,two -third of the home sales in Fairfax were for $250000 or less,but last year ,fewer than one -twentieth were.And even a modest price slump could trigger a construction slowdown that would make shortages of affordable housing for moderate -income families even worse.

14最终，政治家可能重新发现住房问题不是一个城市贫困问题，而是一个中产阶级的生活质量问题，正如燃油价格或医疗保健一样。Eventually,politicians may rediscover housing -not as an urban poverty issue ,but as a middle -class quality -of-issue ,like gas prices or health care.居者有其屋通常被称为是美国梦，但如今许多劳动者为了使他们的家人不至于破产，宁愿租一所体面的房子居住。Home ownership is often described as the American dream ,but these days many workers would settle for a decent that won’t bankrupt their families.

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