Public Housing and the Legacy of Segregation (Urban Institute Press)

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About Public Housing And The Legacy Of Segregation

Product Description For the past two decades the United States has been transforming distressed public housing communities, with three ambitious goals: replace distressed developments with healthy mixed-income communities; help residents relocate to affordable housing, often in the private market; and empower former public housing families toward economic self-sufficiency. The transformation has focused on deconcentrating poverty, but not on the underlying role of racial segregation in creating these distressed communities. In Public Housing and the Legacy of Segregation, scholars and public housing officials assess whether—and how—public housing policies can simultaneously address the problems of poverty and race. Review One of the sadly unresolved tragedies of American life is the continuing racial segregation in public housing, which in turn generates unequal access to quality education, good-paying jobs, and life-enhancing opportunities. Our nation's public housing policies have undoubtedly contributed to the virulence of racial segregation and discrimination. But those policies can be changed. Turner, Popkin, and Rawlings's rigorous analysis of failures in these policies lends credibility to their ideas for transforming public housing and gives hope to achieving a precious goal--meaningful integration. --Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView Over the past 15 years, federal policy and local actions have helped eliminate the worst of our nation's public housing. This timely book brings together the multiple perspectives needed to inform strategies for the remaining housing stock, which concentrates families in very poor, segregated neighborhoods. By highlighting the importance of race in the history of public housing and in policy outcomes, the essays in this book should help policymakers design more effective future approaches. --Barbara Sard, Director of Housing Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities This important volume steers clear of pessimism about some of the nation's most entrenched social problems. Yet the authors--and the array of leading practitioners and scholars they have assembled to comment--do not shy away from the barriers that confront change. Beyond the fresh analysis of transformation in America's vital and widely misunderstood public housing program, the book offers insightful commentary on the broader dynamics of segregation, as well as a compelling and practical road map for reform. --Xavier de Souza Briggs, author of Democracy as Problem Solving and editor of The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America Review One of the sadly unresolved tragedies of American life is the continuing racial segregation in public housing, which in turn generates unequal access to quality education, good-paying jobs, and life-enhancing opportunities. Our nation's public housing policies have undoubtedly contributed to the virulence of racial segregation and discrimination. But those policies can be changed. Turner, Popkin, and Rawlings's rigorous analysis of failures in these policies lends credibility to their ideas for transforming public housing and gives hope to achieving a precious goal―meaningful integration. ―Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView Over the past 15 years, federal policy and local actions have helped eliminate the worst of our nation's public housing. This timely book brings together the multiple perspectives needed to inform strategies for the remaining housing stock, which concentrates families in very poor, segregated neighborhoods. By highlighting the importance of race in the history of public housing and in policy outcomes, the essays in this book should help policymakers design more effective future approaches. ―Barbara Sard, Director of Housing Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities This important volume steers clear of pessimism about some of the nation's most entrenched social problems. Yet the authors―and the arr