Altanta set to eliminate all public housing—what’s next?

Researchers at Georgia State University file a preliminary report on the consequences of poverty deconcentration in Atlanta.  From Deirdre Oakely, one of the authors of the report: “By early 2010 Atlanta is poised to become the first city in the Nation to eliminate all of its traditional public housing stock. The GSU Urban Health Initiative is following approximately 300 relocated residents across six public housing communities earmarked for demolition….  Do they end up in better neighborhoods and have improved and more stable living conditions? How is their health and overall well-being affected by relocation? …Findings suggest that the families are moving to other poor, segregated neighborhoods, but that these neighborhoods are not as poor as the public housing communities. However, our findings also show a pattern of geographic clustering of families which is suggestive of reconcentration. For the seniors, the destination neighborhoods are far poorer and more segregation than the origin ones. This raises some serious concerns about the fate of relocated residents from the public housing senior high rises.”  See also, a recent House hearing on the future of public housing (with thanks to Jim Frasier) and a PBS expose on mismanagement in Miami-Dade public housing (with thanks to Andy Beveridge).