PROPERTY-TAX ABATEMENT FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING - AN IDEA WHOSE TIME MAY NEVER ARRIVE

Substandard and overcrowded urban housing conditions in the United Sta tes have been a problem in need of a legislative solution for many yea rs. Twenty years ago, in Volume 11 of the Harvard Journal on Legislati on, Norman Alpert argued that property tax abatement might stimulate p rivate, for-profit investment in low- and moderate-income housing. Und er Mr. Alpert's market-oriented proposal, deferred reassessment of imp roved property would attract private capital into the construction or rehabilitation of housing units for low-income individuals and familie s. In this Article, as part of the Journal's Thirtieth Anniversary Iss ue, Professor Durchslag revisits the property tax abatement issue. Dra wing on empirical studies, Professor Durchslag argues that, though pla usible in theory, property tax abatement does not in reality generate a significant increase in the supply of low-income housing because of several economic and political factors. Furthermore, he argues that ta x abatement proposals have had the additional negative effect of indir ectly impeding movement toward greater public responsibility for low-i ncome housing. Professor Durchslag concludes that legislatures should abandon attempts to attract private capital into the low-income housin g market through the use of tax incentives. Instead, he argues, the pu blic sector ought to be the low-income housing supplier of choice.