Social Costs Attributed to Poor Housing: A Review

Abstract

Observations on the relationship between personal or social disorders and inadequate housing have given great impetus to government intervention throughout the world. Indeed, presumed social consequences of bad housing and its clusters in slum areas have furnished much if not most of the rationale for programs to augment the provision of adequate low-rent dwellings over and above the market supply. In a positivistic frame of mind, one might say that the discovery of pathological effects of poor housing has helped raise the levels of both housing consumption and housing investment. The question posed here is whether the discovery produced valid findings.