1. Resolved: The United States Ought to guarantee the right to housing.
By: Margie Young

2. Resolution Analysis: Definitions
Housing: “Houses and apartments considered collectively” - Oxforddictionaries.com
“Buildings or structures that individuals and their family may live in that meet certain federal regulations. Different housing situations may vary for individuals and may depend on age, family, and geographical location. For example, a recent university graduate in an urban environment in the US may live in a rented apartment whereas a middle-aged entrepreneur may live in a house with or without mortgage.” -Businessdictionary.com

3. Resolution Analysis: Definitions Part II
Right: “A moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way” -Oxforddictionaries.com
Guarantee: “A formal promise or assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality and durability.” -Oxforddictionaries.com

4. Resolution Analysis: Summary
The resolution paraphrased in my words: “A sustainable living location should be available and free for everyone.” Though the word ‘free’ isn’t implicitly stated in the resolution, it is implied. The definition of ‘right’ as used in the resolution states, “A moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something.” The use of the word guarantee points toward the “to have” part of the definition. It creates the meaning of housing should be available without any obstacles; being money in this situation. If you interpreted the resolution with “to obtain” it wouldn’t make any sense, since that’s already possible and there would be no need for the resolution to be proposed.

6. Why is this resolution relevant?
Homelessness- The most obvious way to get rid of homelessness is to just make sure everyone has a home.
College- Ways to make a college education more accessible has been talked about a lot recently and free housing has been suggested as a way to help cut back on the costs.

7. Possible Case: Aff
Value: Societal Welfare- The well-being of a community or society, especially with regard to health and economic matters.
Criterion: Deontology- The study of the nature of duty and obligation.
The United States should guarantee the right to housing due to the moral obligation to do what will best benefit the people.
(definitions from Oxford)

8. Possible Case: Aff- Continued
Contention 1: Solves homelessness
Use statistics showing how many people are homeless or struggling to keep their homes with some data about how that affects their lives.
Contention 2: Lowers crime
Card or two about how poor living conditions contribute criminal behavior of different kinds. Good place to have a couple of extra cards to go over if attacks are weak and there is extra time to reimburse the case. For main ones it would be best to stick to the more powerful argument of violent crimes.

9. Possible Case: Aff- Continued
Contention 3: Helps with other crucial issues
By taking away the financial stress of housing, individuals would be able to spend more money on things like food, combating hunger.

10. Possible Case: Neg
Value: Societal Welfare- The well-being of a community or society, especially with regard to health and economic matters.
Criterion: Cost-Benefit Analysis- Relating to or denoting a process that assesses the relation between the cost of an undertaking and the value of the resulting benefits.
The United States should not guarantee the right to housing due to its negative costs outweighing the benefits in society.
(definitions from oxford)

11. Possible Case: Neg- Continued
Contention 1: Cost
Supplies, Laborers, maintenance, repairs, etc. Will cost the US money all while not getting money from the people using the houses.
Contention 2: Abuse of system
Examples of other times acts like this have been taken advantage of. State examples of ways like that this could happen and connect them to other situations. Ex. If you define that housing size should change depending on family size, people could have children just to get a bigger house handed to them.

12. Possible Case: Neg- Continued
Contention 3: Loss of Jobs
Use statistics about how many jobs the housing system currently makes up to show the impact what the of loss of jobs could do. Use other examples of how a dramatic loss of jobs has affected our country or other countries.

13. Other Things to Note:
High possibility of definition clash on this topic since the resolution is so vague in wording, especially around the word housing. What is being provided is left up to the debater to determine and there is a lot of room for manipulation of what the resolution entails. Debaters should come prepared with their resolution analysis and be prepared to defend it.
There isn’t a high chance of high value- criterion clash debate because the majority of the ones that would fit well with his topic could flow to either side. It’s far more likely for the opponent to try and prove the value/ criterion lifts their case up more than to attack it, except to attack its relevance to it’s current case.