replying to myself...
construction of new housing units can be socialized public service and function as fetter on important source of capital accumulation or it can mean subsidizing private profits with taxpayers' money...
in u.s., housing policy has reflected ostensible desire to address social problem by providing financial assistance to private sector institutions...
as wisconsin democratic senator william proxmire (who, among other things has distinction of filling remainder of joe mccarthy term when latter died), said admiringly of federal housing legislation, it stressed private enterprise and private development, and left basic investment decisions to private sector...
and as bobby kennedy pointed out in reference to social policies, relying primarily, much less exclusively, upon government was to ignore potential contribution of private enterprise...
private power over public policy has tradtionally shaped american politics, at best, it attempts to reconcile irreconcilables, at worst, that history speaks for itself... mh