This analysis is based on a Harvard Law School conference and was produced in co-operation with the American Bar Association's Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. It: challenges conventional public-private ownership categories; surveys studies on the implications of policy on property values; offers examples from other cultures of systems of ownership; and compares experiments in ownership/equity allocation affecting social welfare and environmental conservation. The book brings together scholars, attorneys, government officials, community development practitioners and environmental advocates to consider socially equitable forms of property rights and ownership.