Housing inequality

Housing inequality is the difference in the quality of housing that exists within a given society. It can have negative implications 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 varying racial or social backgrounds. Housing inequality is directly related to concepts of racial inequality, social inequality, income inequality, and wealth inequality. In addition, it is the result of a number of 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 seen as both a cause and an effect of poverty. Residential inequality is especially relevant to discussions of poverty when considering Amartya Sen’s definition of poverty as “the deprivation of basic capabilities”.