Subsidies of the Affluent
Mortgage Interest Deductions “This country does have a national housing policy,” said Kate Hartley, director of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. “And that is that we provide our greatest subsidies to relatively affluent, housed people.” Homeowners get the mortgage interest deduction, which has cost the federal government more than these programs for the poor combined (see table above). Other tax changes mean that fewer homeowners wil