The Future of Housing and the American Family: A Virtual Forum

Too often, discussions of housing policy and land use ignore families—which are increasingly disappearing from cities—and focus on studio apartments for young urban professionals. At the same time, conservatives focused on cultural issues can sometimes overlook practical policy interventions such as zoning reform that might attract broad popular support and support families. Can these factions find common ground on land use policies to improve the economic horizons of American families?

Please join American Affairs for a virtual event at 2:30pm Eastern on Thursday, July 24th, to discuss the prospects for a new political consensus around family-focused housing policy. Across two panels, speakers such as Lyman Stone, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Michael Lind will tackle the political dynamics shaping the family and housing policy debates and evaluate the material benefits of land use reform for America’s families.

2:30 to 3:30 PM: The Economics of Family Housing

As ever-rising housing costs comprise one of the largest expenses for families in the working and middle classes, zoning and land use reform presents a significant pathway for improving their financial well-being. In this panel, panelists will discuss how rising housing costs have accelerated America’s decline in family formation, cohesion, and fertility rates, and assess the potential significance of land use reform in reversing these deleterious trends.

• Moderator: Julius Krein, Editor, American Affairs
• Lyman Stone, Senior Fellow and Director of the Pronatalism Institute, Institute for Family Studies
• Philip Pilkington, Visiting Fellow, Danube Institute
• Brian J. Asquith, Economist, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

3:30 to 4:30 PM: The Politics of Family Policy

Political leaders are looking for policy solutions to make housing more affordable and to strengthen America’s fraying families, issues that can transcend partisan fault lines. In this panel, analysts of the politics of family policy will consider the prospects for a bipartisan synthesis on housing and land use policy that bridges the divide between liberal YIMBYs and conservative family policy advocates.

• Moderator: Leah Libresco Sargeant, Senior Policy Analyst, Niskanen Center
• Michael Lind, Columnist, Tablet
• Richard Kahlenberg, Director of the American Identity Project and Director of Housing, Progressive Policy Institute
• Dan Kishi, Policy Advisor, American Compass