Housing inequality

Housing inequality is the difference in the quality of housing that exists within a given society. It is a form of economic inequality. Housing is a basic need for health and education are. Housing inequality should be a government concern. It can have adverse consequences for the options available to an individual or family. The term may apply regionally across a geographic space, temporally between one generation and the next, or culturally between groups of different racial or social backgrounds. Housing inequality is directly related to concepts of racial inequality, social inequality, income inequality, and wealth inequality. Also, it is the result of some different factors including natural market forces, housing discrimination, and housing segregation.

Housing inequality is also often linked to discussions of poverty because it can be both a cause and an effect of poverty. Residential inequality is especially relevant to studies of poverty when considering Amartya Sen’s definition of poverty as "the deprivation of core capabilities.

Housing inequality is a type of economic inequality. Disparities in Housing explain variations in the conversion of income into human capabilities over differing social climates. Put more simply; income does not always translate to desirable outcomes like healthcare, education, and happiness. The quality of one's housing is one factor that determines if such capabilities are readily available to an individual. The economist and philosopher Amartya Sen reasons that a person's available freedoms, or capabilities, are significant indicators of the kind of life one values or has reason to value. As economic equality varies between economic systems, historical periods, societies so do the housing inequality.

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