New Deal Ruins

G. Goetz Edward

Description

Public housing was an integral part of the New Deal, as the federal government funded public works to generate economic activity and offer material support to families made destitute by the Great Depression, and it remained a major element of urban policy in subsequent decades. As chronicled in New Deal Ruins, however, housing policy since the 1990s has turned to the demolition of public housing in favor of subsidized units in mixed-income communities and the use of tenant-based vouchers rather than direct housing subsidies. While these policies, articulated in the HOPE VI program begun in 1992, aimed to improve the social and economic conditions of urban residents, the results have been quite different. As Edward G. Goetz shows, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and there has been a loss of more than 250,000 permanently affordable residential units. Goetz offers a critical analysis of the nationwide effort to dismantle public housing by focusing on the impact of policy changes in three cities: Atlanta, Chicago, and New Orleans.Goetz shows how this transformation is related to pressures of gentrification and the enduring influence of race in American cities. African Americans have been disproportionately affected by this policy shift; it is the cities in which public housing is most closely identified with minorities that have been the most aggressive in removing units. Goetz convincingly refutes myths about the supposed failure of public housing. He offers an evidence-based argument for renewed investment in public housing to accompany housing choice initiatives as a model for innovative and equitable housing policy.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• USA
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801467554
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

NEW DEAL RUINS

NEWDEAL RUINS

Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

Edward G. Goetz

ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2013 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2013 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2013 Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Goetz, Edward G. (Edward Glenn), 1957–  New Deal ruins : race, economic justice, and public housing policy / Edward G. Goetz.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801451522 (cloth : alk. paper)  ISBN 9780801478284 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1. Public housing—Government policy—United States. 2. Housing policy— United States. 3. Relocation (Housing)—United States. 4. Urban policy— United States. I. Title.  HD7288.78.U5G64 2013  363.5'5610973—dc23 2012038085

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 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Susan, Hanne, Mary, and Greta

Contents

Preface List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Public Housing and Urban Planning Orthodoxy 1.  The Quiet Successes and Loud Failures of Public Housing 2.  Dismantling Public Housing 3.  Demolition in Chicago, New Orleans, and Atlanta 4.  “Negro Removal” Revisited 5.  The Fate of Displaced Persons and Families 6.  Effects and Prospects in Revitalized Communities Conclusion: The Future of Public Housing

Appendix Notes References Index

ix xiii

1

24

48

75

111

123

155

175

191 195 215 235

Preface

I have been researching public housing transformation for close to fifteen years now. The work began broadly as an analysis of policy initiatives being imple mented in many cities to deconcentrate poverty that led to publication ofClear ing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban Americain 2003. In this current book I focus on only one element of deconcentration policy, the dismantling of old public housing communities and their frequent (but not inevitable) replace ment by mixedincome developments. Thus the book has in many ways a more narrowly constructed focus. In other respects, however, the dismantling of public housing has very broad implications and represents a shift in policy that is more notable than that of deconcentration. The radical remaking of public housing is an important watershed moment in American domestic policy. An entire policy landscape and urban landscape are being remade. The dismantling of public housing represents the repudiation of a New Deal policy orientation that saw merit in largescale government social interventions, and that reflected faith that such interventions could produce positive outcomes. It reverses seventy years of social policy in the United States and reflects a fundamental reorientation of urban social policy. The new urban landscape will reflect the new policy environ ment that privileges market initiatives and reduces the reach of state interven tion. This book attempts to provide some perspective on this epochchanging initiative. My study makes use of original data analysis and a synthesis of dozens of other studies of public housing displacement and relocation that have been con ducted across the country. The main dataset I have assembled to analyze this question has been created from various sources, including three separate Free dom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) between 2004 and 2007. These data provide the opportunity to analyze public housing transformation in ways that are com pletely unique. Large portions of chapters 2 and 4 are based on a quantitative analysis of the HUD demolition data. The more technical matters associated with the quantitative analysis, including the specification of the model and descrip tion of variables, are contained in the appendix. In the body of the book I present enough of a description of the analysis to allow all readers to follow the logic of the analysis and to understand the findings.

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