Inserting community perspective research into public housing policy discourse: The Right to the City Alliance’s “We Call These Projects Home”

This article presents key findings of the Right to the City Alliance’s report, We Call These Projects Home: Solving the Housing Crisis from the Ground Up, which documents the effects of public housing policies that are driven by disinvestment, demolition, and privatization. Importantly, the article’s findings and recommendations are based on quantitative and qualitative data from the people impacted by recent trends in public housing policies, a perspective that is underrepresented in the urban planning and policy making discourse. The article challenges the underlying premise of the deconcentration theory by providing evidence that the problems with public housing are due to lack of resources and services in low-income communities, rather than simply the concentration of low-income people. The findings of the report discussed in this article provide a unique and critical contribution to the affordable housing debate by conveying the perspectives and opinions of people impacted by public housing policies. The report’s findings, perhaps unsurprisingly so, diverge from those made in the policy making and academic spheres, namely that public housing is and always has been a vital and necessary option for low-income communities of color. Put simply, residents believe that public housing provides a strong community and want to see public policies that strengthen rather than dismantle it.

► US housing crisis for many in the 99% shows need for stable affordable housing.
► Housing policy reliant on private market detrimentally impacts the urban poor.
► Community perspective research validates public housing’s value and need.
► Disinvestment, not poverty, is the root cause of problems in public housing.
► Current favored housing policies create displacement of people and communities.