If Affordable Housing Were Treated Like Food Food Stamps

Two of the most fundamental human needs are food and housing. As a result, there are government programs to help people who might not be able to afford them. But the way those programs work is wildly different.

Imagine, for a moment, if SNAP—the federal program, formerly known as food stamps, that gives money to low-income people for groceries—was managed in the same way that American cities treat affordable housing.

First of all, local governments would suddenly have much more power over the program. Wealthy cities could decide that they wouldn’t give SNAP benefits to any of their residents, essentially banishing everyone who relied on them to feed themselves and their families to other parts of their metropolitan area.