Cities with the highest ratio of public housing

[Infamous92]

Originally Posted by jman650

That is something to be proud of. I remember hearing in the early 90s by people who had moved out to ATL from here (SF) to go to school saying that Atlanta had so many projects it wasn't even funny. That's great that they've gotten rid of so many (if not yet all) of them. You don't hear about too many projects that succeed in truly helping people, especially when families end up living in some of them for generations. They're supposed to be temporary housing, not permanent crime/poverty nests. This is the first I've heard of Atlanta's makeover so more power to you guys. I hope this works out for the best for the former residents as well.

I 100% agree, that is something to be proud of. That's a good look for Atlanta.

Originally Posted by Cart24

Ah yes, the two cities above 5% are two of the safest major cities in the country, with NYC being the safest. So much for Public Housing always breeding crime. There are ways to house to poor and still offer options to people that doesn't involve crime and violence.

I sort of agree with this, most of NYC's projects are safer (a lot are far safer) than where I currently live, a lot of the time I didn't even know I was in the projects walking through some of these areas, but trust me there's still projects in the main bad areas that are still terrible.

[kcee510]

Originally Posted by tmac9wr

Haha what a coincidence your city happens to be jusssssst below that 1.5%

I noticed that too

[WeSoHood]

Not a chance Cleveland's city proper isn't on the list.

And Atlanta is a little deceiving. Sure, they got rid of their projects, but the crime the low income residents brought to the area just spread throughout the Metro.

[Dr. A]

Annapolis, MD
Why didn't it make the list?

Here are the numbers.
There are 17845 housing units total
790 units are public housing.
With a little math, we come to 4.43%
Coming in at 3rd and higher than our neighbors in Baltimore.

Our claim to fame however is our percentage of population living in public housing.
The city has a population of 38,394 with roughly 2600 living in public housing.
With those numbers you get 6.77% of our population living in public housing.

Our neighbors in Baltimore don't even have half of that at 3.22% of it's population living in public housing.
Using 620961 as the total population and the claimed 20000 living in public housing.

[Chicago60614]

Lots of projects are just being replaced by Section 8 housing. Atlanta got rid of their projects, but then look at 18 months ago when over 30,000 people showed up and chaos erupted when they were handing out 13,000 applications for section 8.

[Johnhw2]

Is it true you cant be a world class city and have more than 1% public housing? I could have sworn I read that some place.

What are the economics of public housing, it is subsidized and if so by whom and how?

Interesting topic, CD's posters have creative minds

[EndersDrift]

John and anyone else interested here is a decent article discussion what Section 8 is and what Public Housing is:
Beyond Bread: Public Housing vs. Section 8: A Brief Overview

I find it pretty sad that you all associate these things as negative. I worked in Miami to expand its offerings not subtract it. The homeless problem didn't magically up and disappear you know, people need a place to live. Section 8 which I know a bit more about than Public Housing is one of the most failed ideas ever in my opinion. The whole program should be reworked. To explain:

~30% but often more is used for rent. Say there's a 3 bedroom apartment near me that costs 800/mo. The catch is that there are salary caps. For that 800/mo apartment you can't make more than 28,000 and that is total income so for example if you make 22,000 and have a roommate making 16,000 you can't move in there. It amounts to a higher percentage of monthly income as a result than to just move to a regular apartment. The only benefit is if you're a single parent that really needs a place with rooms for your kids but still 28,000 means you're making about 1800/mo. That means over a third of your income is just for paying the rent. Every financial advisor will tell you that you should be paying between 20% and 25% towards rent.

You want to know why so many fail, that's it in a nutshell. It's not bad people, drug dealers, alcoholics or sex offenders. Its the ridiculous regulations and rates applied.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Wrote a long reply before ios5 had one its nervous farts but anyway, in New Orleans 1.6% of households are in public housing and another 8.9% receive Section 8.