Let’s take a step back from the shenanigans on Wall Street and fears of a double-dip recession. Instead, I want to talk about a foundation of personal finance: shelter. A major social achievement of the past decade has been raising the home ownership rate to a record high of 69 percent of American households.

That said, a shortage of reasonably priced rental apartments is forcing many families to devote a large part of their paycheck to shelter. Rental costs consume a third or more of household income among 44 percent of the nation's renters. Little wonder addressing the "affordable housing crisis" dominates the political agenda of mayors across the country, from New York to Minneapolis to San Francisco. The most popular idea: Build subsidized housing.

The solution sounds good, and some new construction is probably necessary. But it's expensive for government to build subsidized housing. Publicly funded complexes can drive small neighborhood landlords out of business. They can also discourage private rental construction. And taxpayer money ends up lining the pockets of politically connected developers.

Here’s another way of looking at the troubling issue.* The problem is largely a lack of income, not housing. The reason to worry that poor families are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing is that the rental bill cuts into expenditures on other valued items, such as food, medical care, education, and car repairs.

The better public policy approach for solving the housing problem for the poor is vouchers. A voucher is essentially a government chit worth a certain sum of money. Housing vouchers are tailor made to bolster incomes and reduce the out-of-pocket drain of paying rent. Vouchers are cost-effective. Best yet, vouchers let the individual decide where to live, rather than political power brokers.

Now, I happen to think that a pernicious distinction in modern society is the difference between after-tax money and pretax income. After-tax income is our own to spend, smartly or foolishly. But everyone can’t wait to attach strings to pretax money, especially when the recipients are poor. Nevertheless, housing vouchers occupy a middle ground that eases the financial strain of renting on many poor families while, at the same time, increasing consumer choice on where to live.