A critical approach to solving the housing problem

How might critical theory deal with a problem such as the harrowing housing crisis in the United States today? Using the approach of critical theory, critical planning would attack such an issue in three steps: expose, propose, politicize (Marcuse, 2008, 179-91; 2010b, 13-16). Expose here means dealing with the immediate mortgage foreclosure crisis in the United States as part of a more generalized housing crisis (itself part of the broad economic crisis, in turn a part of the capitalist organization of the economy). It would show: 1) how housing is produced in accordance with the rules of the capitalist economic system; 2) how housing is regulated by the state to maximize profit; and 3) how housing is supported by manipulated ideological and cultural underpinnings – the three pillars of the crisis. Propose means setting forth the actions that are necessary to address the immediate problem today, seeing them always in the context of alternatives to these three pillars, examining current proposals for reform and exploring long-term possibilities for non-reformist reforms. Proposals would include, addressing each of the pillars: 1) market domination in housing through decommodification in production and distribution; 2) state regulation of housing through fully democratic governmental control; and 3) ideological clarity through widespread understanding of the social character of housing. Politicize then means showing what actions and what changes are immediately feasible and what are ultimately necessary to address fully the causes of the problem. A critical approach would end with seeking the means, the forces, the strategies, by which its proposals might be put into practice.