This thesis uses thirteen interviews with low-income housing advocates to place current housing advocacy practice in its historical context of the last 150 years. Historically, housing policy has become more progressive when two conditions are present: one, urban social unrest and, two, professional housing advocacy. However, once major successes were made during the sixties, neoliberal federal policy changes put advocates on the defensive. Analysis of the interviews indicates that preferred strategy of housing policy modification differed along participants social position and level of investment in the current system, level of outrage, and belief in democratic agency. Four main strategies of advocacy work were found, each differed to the extent it was public as opposed to private. The four strategies were: educating and mobilizing the public, educating public officials, lobbying public officials, and mobilizing private organizations. Advocates most invested in the current system of property relations promoted the least public forms of action, while those on the margins promoted the most public forms of action. Theoretical and practical implications for advocacy, political economics, and democratic theory are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-04022007-151501 |
| Date | 14 April 2007 |
| Creators | Nelson, Michael Henry |
| Contributors | William Partridge, Paul Speer |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-04022007-151501/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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