New Views on Housing

The U.S. public housing program is in terrible shape. Almost anywhere a project starts, neighbors complain that unwanted poor people are being imposed on otherwise stable communities. The projects' own residents, admitted only if their income is below prescribed levels, argue that they are being segregated from the rest of society. Worst of all, inflation has so increased the cost of operating buildings that many housing officials are beginning to wonder if they can any longer meet their mandate to provide decent low-rent shelter.

To meet the most immediate needs, Massachusetts Senator Edward W. Brooke has introduced legislation to authorize $335 million in operating subsidies for existing projects. But money is not the only answer for public housing troubles, as a provocative recent study indicates. Sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the nonprofit Urban Institute, it was written by John P. Macey, retired director of housing for the Greater London Council. Though the British expert is frankly critical of U.S. programs, he is convinced that the problems can be solved.

Responsibility. One difficulty, Macey says, is too much bureaucracy. He notes that the U.S.'s 1,000,000 publicly owned housing units are administered by 2,500 local agencies, of which only about 300 own more than 400 units. "Many are managing stocks far too small for efficiency, or to justify their employing highly trained staffs," he says. He urges that local authorities be amalgamated to manage no fewer than 1,000 units each, as in Britain.

Macey also feels that the Federal Government is still too much involved in the design, building, management and use of each project. Washington's heavy hand thus makes each local government feel "it has little or no responsibility for the housing problems of its own citizens." In England, he says, the local agencies have virtually complete control and are much more responsive to local needs.

Macey's most startling recommendation is to abolish all rules governing how poor a family must be to occupy public housing. Instead, he says, rents should be pegged to the family's ability to pay. One result would be to provide the housing authority with higher rents as tenants' incomes rise; in Britain, most housing projects now pay their own way under this system. The arrangement also helps to ensure that each project contains a mixture of residents--young and old, white and black. Indeed, Macey says that such a "social mix" should be planned from the start.

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