HOUSING POLICY AND THE UNDERCLASS - THE UNITED-KINGDOM, GERMANY, AND THE NETHERLANDS

The urban underclass has gained considerable currency as a concept to describe the changing face of poverty in the United States. Locating t he urban underclass within the theoretical framework of citizenship an d social class, this paper broadens conceptualization of the urban und erclass to allow a comparative analysis. Using the conceptualization d eveloped, the author analyzes the role of housing in the social and sp atial segregation and isolation that have been the hallmarks of the ur ban underclass in the United States, as well as in the Netherlands, Ge rmany, and England. After comparing the divergent housing policies in the three European countries, the author examines local-level data in one old industrial city in each country. While there is some spatial c oncentration of poor and minority populations, the neighborhoods in qu estion remain ethnically heterogeneous and do not lack social institut ions. In short, they are far removed from the US hyperghetto.