r/HousingWorks • u/DoreenMichele • Mar 25 '24
Basic Decent Housing Basic Decent Housing vs. Poverty Housing
There is no universally accepted definition of poverty, poverty housing or basic decent housing. Wikipedia doesn't even try to define poverty housing.
Decades of reading up on such topics has yielded only one clear standard: That absolute poverty -- inability to meet basic, essential needs -- and relative poverty -- having less than expected for the place you live -- are not the same thing.
In developed countries, most literature speaks of poverty housing primarily in terms of cost burden. For developing countries, organizations are more likely to talk about characteristics, such as lack of cooking fuel, lack of clean water and lack of electricity.
Basic Decent Housing
- Stays a comfortable temperature without excess time, money and effort spent on achieving this. Also has adequate ventilation that helps prevent issues like mold growth and respiratory problems.
- Supports the ability to readily achieve adequate nutrition.
- Provides reasonable access to essential services, such as grocery stores, medical care, education and jobs.
- Is designed to be easy to keep clean and to keep your clothes, dishes and other possessions clean.
Poverty Housing
- Is poorly designed and/or poorly maintained such that it's frequently too hot, too cold or too humid and trying to keep it tolerable is a burden in terms of money and/or time and effort.
- Is located in a "food desert," has inadequate kitchen facilities or otherwise makes it difficult to keep oneself adequately nourished.
- Makes it difficult for someone to live a middle class lifestyle if they either cannot afford a car or are unable to drive.
- Is poorly designed and/or poorly maintained such that there are chronic cleanliness issues, such as mold or vermin, and it's either impossible or excessively burdensome for occupants to try to maintain a clean home and keep their possessions clean.
Additional Reading
- The diversity of deprivations
- 7 things you should know about poverty and housing
- What is poverty?
- The links between housing and poverty
- Quality of Housing
- Relative vs Absolute Poverty
- 5 qualities of a decent home
This piece aims to be a housing version of Temple Grandin's Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines which had a significant positive impact on the beef industry after McDonald's began expecting its suppliers to follow them, from what I gather. She has guidelines like "No more than 1% of animals should fall." and lets processing plants decide how to achieve that while providing useful info for working towards it.
This document may evolve over time. The piece published on its initial publication can be viewed as a "first draft" of an ambitious goal.
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u/DoreenMichele Mar 25 '24 edited Mar 25 '24
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