Housing, more specifically housing, refers to the arrangement and designated use of dwellings or residential buildings together, for the intent of sheltering humans as a group, the administration of a public institution, with other associated meanings. The primary function of housing is to provide for the overall wellbeing of its residents. In most cases, housing will include a dwelling, a building that contains one or multiple dwelling units, a structure intended to be used as a place of residence, a mobile or permanent residence, or any combination thereof. The term “housing” can also refer to a specific type of dwelling such as a duplex, row-house, apartment building, or townhouse, sometimes referred to as residential apartments. Other types of housing can include educational housing, correctional housing, assisted living, and military housing.
A major aspect of the purpose and function of housing is as a protective mechanism against natural disasters. For this reason, communities often seek to develop large-scale urban areas in which to live, work, and raise children. In cities around the world, affordable housing projects and subsidies are available to provide low-income families with mortgages, public utilities, and the infrastructure they need to live. As a result, these homeowners typically have greater purchasing power than their counterparts living in rural areas, and they can leverage this purchasing power by negotiating for lower interest rates and terms on their loans and mortgages than those individuals who reside in less urbanized settings.
As urbanization continues to occur throughout the developed world, more people will have access to better housing conditions than ever before. Affordable housing and subsidies are available for lower and middle-income families to purchase homes, duplexes, condos, and apartments, in many cases replacing the more arty-looking public housing projects that existed during the worlds first world war ii. In fact, one can even take the metaphor from that war, using the U.S. Housing Administration (HHA) and the VA housing programs that were created to provide home loans and mortgages to former veterans to assist them with the purchase of their new homes, as an analogy to the way that housing vouchers can be used to leverage lower interest rates and terms on mortgages, helping working-class families to purchase their dream home for less than they could afford on their traditional mortgage. While real estate may not always be the first option for lower and middle-income families, there is no denying the importance of housing as a key element in building a better tomorrow for all Americans.