Do not expect too much from the housing crisis

In this dissertation, I offer three deconstructive readings of texts that pertain to the housing crisis in Oakland, California. First, I read the myths and metaphors of the housing crisis to show how they strip housing of its politics, history, and geography. Second, I theorize the violence of housing alongside the thought and practice of Moms 4 Housing in order to show how the housing crisis is unable to account for the politics of their movement. Lastly, I introduce the concept of “haunted housing” in order to show how housing is a system haunted by the exclusions involved in the production and maintenance of shelter. Dealing with ontologies of housing, the limits of representations, and practices of depoliticization, I argue that the housing crisis is a reductive discourse that tends to authorize, incentivize, and lend urgency to the construction of more houses, but ultimately falls short as a tool in the progressive struggle to ensure that basic housing needs are met.