For many housing activists, the term “affordable housing” has become worthy of scorn. Affordability indexes are so often unrealistic that the term is judged to be meaningless — “affordable for whom?” is a common jibe. Recently, a new term, signaling a more muscular vision for advocacy, has appeared at the forefront of housing discussions: social housing.

A 2017 People’s Policy Project paper, “Social Housing in the United States,” from Saoirse Gowan and Ryan Cooper, has helped bring the idea of social housing to the fore. The model cuts through the fog of affordability issues by asserting that government housing ought to be a universal public good.

Readers of Jacobin will be familiar with the long history of liberal actors co-opting terms and slogans from activist groups. It is crucial that the vision of universal social housing is not weakened by this type of appropriation. This means that a hard line must be kept on some key aspects of what makes social housing social — namely, who builds it and who owns it.