Good riddance to bad housing

By Lyle V. Harris - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Published on: 04/29/07

OUR OPINION: Bemoaning the loss of public projects is no way to help the poor make a better life.

Last week, a small knot of protesters stood outside the Atlanta Housing Authority's downtown headquarters chanting "Shame, Shame on Renee Glover," the agency's soft-spoken executive director.

Taking turns with the bullhorn, they criticized Glover for her ambitious and largely successful efforts to overhaul public housing in Atlanta, which they claim has led to the mistreatment of poor residents unable to fend for themselves.

Despite the combative rhetoric, the protest seemed quaintly nostalgic. It reunited "old school" political leaders and battle-tested advocates for the homeless with graying civil rights veterans clinging to outdated notions about how best to overcome the intractable social problems that bedevil Atlanta and other American cities.

But the protesters only needed to look a few miles in any direction to find evidence that they're stuck in an ideological time warp. The future, as envisioned by Glover and others who have embraced a more pragmatic approach to those problems, is a better place.

For example, Carver Homes, a public housing complex in southwest Atlanta, once sprawled like a cancerous growth on the surrounding neighborhood. It has since been transformed into a mixed-income community with a new elementary school, athletic fields and upscale amenities.
Further north, the Perry Homes projects, which had been a wasteland of abject poverty, crime and despair, is no more. In its place stands The West Highlands, an oasis of single-family houses, condos and apartments where middle and upper-class professionals live side by side with neighbors whose incomes qualify them for public assistance.

In total, 16 public housing complexes around the city have undergone such a metamorphosis. But Glover says her "mission" is hardly complete; all of AHA's conventional, multifamily complexes have been razed or are slated for demolition in the next several years. The agency also plans to tear down three senior-citizen high-rise apartments and will relocate residents who are elderly or disabled into properties better-suited to their needs.

Many of the agency's public housing projects are located on prime real estate near major schools and universities, transportation hubs and commercial corridors. Overall, the public housing makeovers have contributed to the renaissance of intown Atlanta and helped attract billions of dollars in new development that will boost the city's tax base.

The groundwork for those landmark improvements was laid in 1992, when Congress approved an initial $5 billion for a program called HOPE VI. Administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the program aimed to dramatically reform some of the nation's worst public housing agencies, including Atlanta's. (In a short-sighted move, the Bush administration has repeatedly sought to gut or eliminate the program. A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress would increase annual funding to $600 million.)

Using HOPE VI as a template, Glover's Atlanta-based initiatives are breaking up large pockets of entrenched poverty and leveraging private sector investment to redevelop and manage the resulting mixed-income communities.

But the most critical —- and controversial —- aspects of Glover's agenda have more to do with hearts and minds than sticks and bricks.

As older projects are torn down, thousands of ousted residents are being given Section 8 housing vouchers, a federal subsidy that allows them to rent houses or apartments from private landlords. Those who remain in public housing or choose to return to redeveloped communities must work at least 30 hours a week or be enrolled in school or a job-training program. If not, they face eviction.

As required by law, the housing authority has offered relocation and job placement services, as well as child care and transportation assistance, to tenants struggling to make the transition. Naysayers complain that the city's shortage of affordable housing is forcing Section 8 voucher holders into neighborhoods that are inconvenient to MARTA and other services they need.
That concern is genuine. In addition, Atlanta's HOPE VI program is not without flaws —- its progress must be closely monitored to ensure that displaced residents are treated fairly and get the help they need.

Overall, however, the lives of many of those who rely on public housing in Atlanta are vastly superior compared to "the good old days" when they were warehoused in crime-ridden slums and consigned to a lifetime of crippling dependency.

Our government has an important role to play in addressing poverty. But Glover recognizes the more realistic and morally defensible approach is to encourage individuals in public housing to become self-sufficient while engaging the private sector to invest in creating thriving communities.

That's not an easy, quick or painless process. But after decades of miserable failure, the AHA is headed in the right direction. The only shame would be in turning back.

Lyle V. Harris, for the editorial board (lharris@ajc.com)