Lessons from 40 Years of Public Housing Policy: Where Do We Go from Here?

Public housing faces an increasingly uncertain future. The nation’s oldest rental housing assistance program has been an important source of permanent affordable housing for families with very low incomes, people with disabilities, and older adults since its inception in 1937. But after decades of inadequate funding and oversight, the public housing program faces urgent challenges that threaten the nation’s ability to continue to provide deeply subsidized housing amid a growing affordable housing crisis. Many public housing developments are aging, deteriorating, and in acute need of rehabilitation. Because of a combination of factors—including unit deterioration, HOPE IV demolitions, and project-based rental assistance programs—the number of public housing units and deeply subsidized units have declined in recent years. There is an urgent need for substantial federal investment to revitalize the remaining stock and keep it operational for very low–income tenants and to increase the amount of assistance overall.