Lesson Plan: Examining Housing Policy

Subjects:

Civics, Economics, U.S. History (could include A.P. U.S. Government & Politics and A.P. Macroeconomics)

Lesson Duration:

• Three 50-minute Class Periods
  • Day 1 – Housing policy through a lens of federalism
  • Day 2 – Analysis of presidential and H.U.D. secretary speeches over time
  • Day 3 – Executive branch agencies and federal budget analysis
  • Note: Days 1 and 2 could be used as independent, stand-alone lessons. Day 3, however, draws on knowledge gained from the work completed during Days 1 and 2.
  • Select “File>Make a Copy” to eliminate, edit or reorder any of the modular sections on the activity handout.

Essential Questions:

• How has housing instability been addressed at local, state, and federal levels of government?
• How have fiscal budgetary approaches to solving housing instability changed over time?
• How should housing instability be managed in the United States?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• Examine the concept of federalism through government programs to remedy housing instability.
• Analyze the economic impact of different public housing initiatives on the various U.S. stakeholders.
• Evaluate current models to address housing instability by considering social, economic and political implications.

Materials:

• Retro Report video “A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty Has an Unexpected History” (Transcript)
• Student access to computer or device with Internet access
• Student Activity handout
• Large sheet of bulletin board paper and markers for each student group
• Speeches Document Set handout
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address at Atlanta, Georgia | The American Presidency Project
  • Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks Upon Signing the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 | The American Presidency Project
  • Henry Cisneros Speech to reporters about HUD reforms: August 29, 1995 | C-SPAN Video Archives
  • Secretary Andrew Cuomo’s Remarks to the U.S. Conference of Mayors: June 21, 1998 | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Archives
  • President George W. Bush Speaks to HUD Employees on National Homeownership Month | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Archives
  • Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., Committee on Financial Services U.S. House of Representatives | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Archives
  • Archived Speeches by Year | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Archives
• USASpending.gov website

Procedure:

1. Day 1: Divide the class into groups of four and distribute the Student Activity handout. Inform students that different parts of this handout will be completed over the three-day lesson.
   1. Students should analyze the linked passages pertaining to enumerated and reserved powers from the U.S. Constitution, the 1789 Joint Resolution of Congress Proposing the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to determine where power and authority is concentrated in the United States. Completing this task as a jigsaw activity might save time.
   2. Each group should collaborate to complete the first section of the Student Activity handout by writing a concise answer to the analysis question and highlighting evidence from the excerpted text to support their claim regarding the concentration of power in the United States.
   3. This opening analysis of the Constitution should take no longer than 5 to 8 minutes
2. Bring the whole class back together to briefly (approx. 5 minutes) discuss the groups’ answers concerning where power is concentrated in the United States.
   1. List each group’s claim on the board. Claims might include: federal government, the president, Congress, U.S. Constitution, individual states, people of the United States.
   2. Explain that all of these possible answers are true. In the United States, power is diffused between the national, state, and local levels of government. The U.S. Constitution protects this distribution of power through various constitutional provisions including the enumerated powers listed in Article I, Section 8 and the reserved state powers protected by the 10th Amendment.
   3. Introduce the term “federalism” as the distribution of power between national, state, and local governments. Ask students why the founders at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 might have designed the new government in this manner. Answers might include fear of concentrating power with one person or entity, like a monarch.
3. Ask the class to think of an issue where all levels of government (national, state, and local) have or share authority and influence. Possible answers might include transportation or housing, among others.
4. Have students watch “A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty Has an Unexpected History” (Transcript) and answer the provided questions. In addition to the questions, students will be asked to identify examples of national, state and local government influences on the housing programs highlighted in the video.
5. Following the video, return students to their original groups to complete the next section of the activity. They will be creating a concept map to summarize and make connections between ideas.
   1. Examples of concept maps can be found from various. sources online, including the University of North Carolina’s Learning Center.
   2. Provide each student group with a large sheet of paper (bulletin board paper cut in poster board size sheets) and markers for them to create a concept map that combines visual and text ideas related to federalism and government sponsored housing programs. Allow approximately 20 minutes for this task.
      1. The term at the center of the Concept Map should be “Federalism.”
      2. Include ideas, pictures, words and phrases from the U.S. Constitution and the video.
      3. A minimum of three entries on the concept map should come from the Retro Report video.
      4. A minimum of two entries on the concept map should come from the U.S. Constitution.
      5. Include additional ideas that demonstrate a deeper understanding of federalism.
      6. Write a concise statement at the bottom of the concept map explaining federalism as it relates to the issue of housing.
      7. The images and text included on the concept map above the statement should serve as evidence of each group’s analysis and synthesis of the constitutional texts they read in the lesson opening and the ideas presented in the Retro Report video.
   3. Ideas included on the concept map should include specific examples of housing initiatives, various levels of government involvement and the relationships between these ideas.
      1. The goal is for student groups to show their deep understanding of how the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Chicago’s Gautreaux program demonstrate the involvement of more than one level of government to resolve the same issue.
      2. Students should also be encouraged to include evaluative ideas about the successes and failures of the various examples they include on the concept map.
   4. Post completed concept maps around the room and encourage groups to share their thoughts and ideas with others through any format that works well with your students (gallery walk, presentation, etc.). Allow approximately 5 minutes for this task.
6. The remaining parts of the Student Activity handout will be completed on Days 2 and 3 of the lesson. The teacher should either collect the handouts and redistribute each day or have students secure their own handouts to be brought back to class for Days 2 and 3.
7. Day 2: Explain to students that even though the legislative branch establishes the national budget, the president often influences budget making decisions by submitting a budget request to Congress and promoting the fiscal priorities he or she may have for the upcoming year. This is often done through speeches and direct communication with the public and lawmakers.
8. The Speeches Document Set handout has excerpts from six speeches made by U.S. presidents and H.U.D. secretaries dating from the 1930s through 2018. The speeches provide insight into the policy priorities for addressing housing instability during each time period.
   1. For each speech, students will work individually to complete the next part of the Student Activity handout.
   2. In this section, students will use a reading strategy that requires them to generate six to eight magnet words that attract the details of each speech.
      1. To support students who may find this challenging, suggest that they think of one word that captures the meaning of each paragraph.
      2. The word they generate would be a magnet word. They will then use their magnet words to create a summary sentence for each speech.
      3. For more information about the magnet summaries strategy, see: Eureka! | Ohio Literacy Resource Center of Kent State University.
9. Allow approximately 20 minutes for this task.
   1. Another option for structuring this task might be to use the jigsaw method. If this method is chosen, divide the class into six groups and assign one speech to each group. The members of the group will become “experts” on that speech. Once the groups complete their work reading and creating the speech summaries using magnet words, redistribute students into jigsaw groups. The jigsaw groups should include one student from each of the original groups. Each member of the new group is an “expert” on a different speech. Each student will share their speech and information with the group.
   2. For more about using jigsaws, see Using Jigsaws to Facilitate small-group discussions | Harvard Graduate School of Education.
10. Ask students to share their summary sentences with the class to verify accurate interpretation of each speech. The teacher should clarify any misconceptions during this brief whole class discussion. Allow approximately 5 minutes.
11. Divide the class into pairs or triads to allow collaboration. In this section, students will utilize their prior knowledge or consult online resources to construct a Two-layer Timeline that traces changes in government policy on resolving housing insufficiency over time.
    1. Each speech is already labeled on the timeline.
    2. Student pairs/triads should collaborate to identify historical events or context that may have impacted either the housing situation or the programs supported by government policy at the time each speech was given. Students should list these events and contextual information in the appropriate space above the timeline
    3. Student pairs/triads should compare their summary sentences for each speech and identify the main provisions of government policy related to housing being promoted during each time period. Students should list these housing initiatives in the appropriate space below the timeline. Allow approximately 15 minutes for this task.
12. The student pairs/triads will end this portion of the lesson by completing their analysis of the timeline. Students will develop a claim about continuity and change over time related to government housing policy. They will use evidence from the speeches to support their claim.
    1. Claim statements should incorporate concepts or policies that have remained constant throughout the time period and also ways that policy has changed.
       The teacher might provide a sentence stem for students who need additional guidance. For example, the claim could be written as follows: “While _____ has always been a part of addressing the housing insufficiency problem in the United States, some policy priorities have also shifted from _________to ___________.”
    2. The final step is for students to support their claim with evidence from the speeches. The chart included on the handout can help students organize their information. Allow approximately 10 minutes for this task.
    3. As an extension, students could be required to write a full essay that incorporates the claim and evidence.
13. Day 3: Explain to students that they will be exploring the executive branch agencies and the concept of fiscal policy as it relates to budget allocation decisions. Return to the U.S. Constitution and identify in Article II the responsibility of the president to enforce the laws created by Congress. Allow approximately 3 minutes.
14. Watch the Retro Report video focused on H.U.D.and how its approach to funding housing programs changed over time.
    1. Have students work in pairs to complete the section of the Activity handout related to the difference between funding housing construction projects and housing choice vouchers.
    2. In terms of budgetary considerations, what are some pros and cons for each approach to resolving housing instability in Chicago and other urban areas?
       1. Student pairs should draw on the knowledge of federalism gained on Day 1 and changes in government policy over time from the speeches they read on Day 2 of this lesson to help evaluate the funding approaches.
       2. Students are also asked to consider different perspectives when completing this task. Allow approximately 10 minutes for this task.
15. Explain that Congress makes and approves the federal budget each year. The president provides a budget request to Congress, from which the legislative branch decides the final allocation of funding for the upcoming year.
    1. Ask students how spending decisions are made in their homes. How do they prioritize spending?
    2. Explain that the government takes a similar approach. They must prioritize the allocation of limited funds. These decisions become the fiscal policy for the nation.
16. Draw students’ attention to the 15 executive branch departments (often called agencies) and their responsibilities listed on the handout.
    1. Explain that the allocation of this revenue to the various departments is part of fiscal policy. This should not be confused with monetary policy, which is focused on how the banks regulate interest rates and the money supply. In this lesson, students will investigate budget allocations as part of government fiscal policy.
    2. Fiscal policy discussions for advanced level courses may go more in depth related to expansionary and contractionary fiscal policy tools. The link below to the City University of New York’s Open Education Resources can help support advanced students in their deeper investigation of these macroeconomics concepts.
17. Have students pretend they are a member of Congress who must prepare the annual budget and complete the following:
    1. Identify the three departments for which you would allocate the most funding. Give an explanation for each choice.
    2. Identify the two departments for which you would allocate the least funding. Give an explanation for each choice.
    3. If you did not include H.U.D. in the top three or bottom two, explain where you would place H.U.D. on the list of 15.
18. Next, students will examine the budgets for federal agencies and cabinet departments for fiscal year 2024. The link to USASpending.gov has been provided for them on the activity handout.
    1. Students will identify the three departments with the largest budgets, and explain how they spend their money.
    2. Students will do the same with the two departments that have been allocated the least amount of money, and explain how H.U.D fits on the list.
    3. To complete the lesson, students will reflect on what they have learned about the federal budget and spending priorities by answering the remaining questions.

About the Author:

Dr. Rhonda K. Webb is a high school history teacher at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga. She has developed curriculum and resources for national and state organizations over more than 30 years. Dr. Webb is executive director of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies.

Standards

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

• D2.Civ.1.9-12. Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.

• D2.Civ.11.9-12. Evaluate multiple procedures for making governmental decisions at the local, state, national, and international levels in terms of the civic purposes achieved.

• D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended outcomes, and related consequences.

• D2. Eco.2.9-12. Use marginal benefits and marginal costs to construct an argument for or against an approach or solution to an economic issue.

• D2.Eco.8.9-12. Describe the possible consequences, both intended and unintended, of government policies to improve market outcomes.

• D2.Eco.12.9-12. Evaluate the selection of monetary and fiscal policies in a variety of economic conditions.

Common Core Literacy Standards

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.