This chapter examines the unprecedented housing crisis that erupted in New York City at the end of World War II. At the end of the war, New Yorkers faced their worst housing shortage ever. The housing supply that had already been inadequate for the city's population and contained many substandard tenements had fallen even further behind, as construction virtually ceased during the Great Depression and the war. Meanwhile, demand was rising. Even the worst slum apartments found a market among African Americans who were moving north and discovering that de facto segregation confined them to a few crowded neighborhoods. By 1950, census figures showed that the city required an additional 430,000 dwelling units to properly house its population. This chapter looks at the rise of tenant activists and how they addressed the housing crisis via grassroots mobilizations in concert with leftist and liberal organizations, allowing them not only to retain, but also to institutionalize, the signal achievements of rent control and public housing.
Speculative housing markets and rent control: insights from nonlinear economic dynamics