Banking on Dystopia: Racial Capitalism and Affordable Housing in Desperate Times

• In Event: Racial Capitalism and Urban Politics

Abstract

Drawing from a current book project, this paper highlights two seemingly conflicting recent trends. On the one hand, lower-income renters face an increasingly dire affordable housing crisis. On the other hand, big banks and corporations today are investing in affordable rental housing like never before. This paper explains a key thread that connects these trends: tax-favored investments in real estate, AKA "tax shelters." Since the 1960s into the present, tax shelters have become the main source of funding for affordable housing production. Consequently, low-income housing policies today--unbeknownst to many--are closely tied up with corporate banking and elite wealth management. This paper explores the history of tax-sheltered investment as a political technology: one that has reconfigured linkages between racism and capitalism, and one that occupies a complicated role in today's political landscape. Ultimately, it argues that tax shelters have spawned an industry that thrives on crisis. That industry supplies a vital lifeline for lower-income households, but also maintains a powerful stranglehold on them.

Author

• John N Robinson