Sixty-three percent of those surveyed say they would support public housing in their communities, but 53 percent don’t want to live close to it. Sixty-one percent believe that public housing has some positive impact on its residents, but nearly a third of respondents (31 percent) don’t think public housing residents are hard-working members of society.
Nationally, according to ReThink, 2.2 million people live in public housing. At least 500,000 are on waiting lists, including 70,000 in Washington, D.C., where there are just 8,000 units. The long economic downturn has intensified the demand, while belt-tightening in Washington has meant budgetary pressures on housing authorities. The sequestration alone has meant a loss of $1 million a month for the DCHA, says Todman.
"That is an American success story that does not occur without support."
DCHA’s Todman agrees that addressing the root causes of poverty is essential. "Until we get a grasp on how to generate our youth out of poverty, as a country we’re not going to get any better."
But she argues that public housing remains an essential part of that effort. "It’s something we need to look at as a country,” she says. "[Public housing] is actually an asset that belongs to us all."
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