The central thrust of federal housing policy has been to provide housing vouchers to the poor.

Abstract

Federal housing policy reveals an unexpected political cycle of Republican innovation and Democratic appropriation. The political trajectory of rental housing vouchers since their inception reveals a partisan policy cycle. Vouchers were originally proposed as a Republican alternative to Democratic public housing construction and slowly emerged as a viable component of housing policy in the United States. In the mid-1990s, a shift occurred in which Democrats embraced vouchers and Republicans retreated from their innovation. This article suggests a partisanship model of policy making that both challenges and supplements conventional models of the policy process.

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The two categories of social policy—contributory and noncontributory—generally serve different groups of people. The elderly and the middle class receive the most benefits from the government's social policies, and children and the working poor receive the fewest.

What social policy is most costly to the government?

Social Security and Medicare are the most costly social welfare programs.

Who was in charge of caring for the poor during the nineteenth century?

Poor relief, to the extent that it existed at all in the 19th century, was primarily the responsibility of local and state gov- ernments. Nevertheless, in various ways and at different times the federal government did become involved in poor relief ac- tivities.

Which program was designed to help augment the benefits to the aged?

Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Act, also known as the Social Security Amendments of 1965, into law. It established Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Medicaid, a health insurance program for people with limited income.