Sponsor
Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning
First Advisor
Lisa Bates
Date of Publication
Fall 12-21-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Urban Studies (M.U.S.)
Department
Urban Studies
Language
English
Subjects
Cully (Portland, Or.), Right to housing, Housing policy, Community development
DOI
10.15760/etd.6615
Physical Description
1 online resource (v, 148 pages)
Abstract
A right to housing is a central iteration of the broader demand for a democratic right to the city. The perpetual housing crisis for lower-income people results from a commodified system in which access to housing is based on the exchange value interests of property owners, rather than a universal right to a decent, affordable home. This system is a pillar of neoliberal urban governance and justified by a hegemonic ideology that equates speculative homeownership with the American Dream. Achieving a right to housing, even at the local scale, requires a radical movement that cultivates individual and collective consciousness, discredits the dominant ideology, and fights for decommodification.
In recent years, grassroots organizing in the Cully neighborhood of Portland, OR, has resisted gentrification and contributed to local housing policy victories. As an activist research project, a survey of existing housing advocates tests the framework of housing consciousness and interest groups developed by John Emmeus Davis (1991), and explores the potential for a radical housing movement in Cully. Across lines of housing tenure, respondents widely agree with a right to housing in the abstract, recognize unjust outcomes of the existing system, and support policies that prioritize housing rights over property rights. Yet many are skeptical of interventions specifically in the homeownership system, and express limited or contradictory understandings of the structural underpinnings of housing injustice.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27736
Recommended Citation
Herrington, Cameron Hart, "Consciousness Against Commodifcation: the Potential for a Radical Housing Movement in the Cully Neighborhood" (2018). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4731.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.6615