Reply #121: The lack of a profit motive is why we need PUBLIC housing.

[Gormy Cuss]

HUD/FHA essentially got out of the business of adding units to public housing in the 1960s. All expansion of Federally subsidized housing since then has been through privately owned developers and landlords. Some privately developed properties are run by nonprofit community groups. They tend to stay with it unless the group itself goes bankrupt.

The rest are for-profit owners. We know what's wrong with that approach: private owners, unless restricted by their agreement with HUD, have an incentive to move out of lower profit low income rental management to either market rate rentals or conversion to other more profitable use. They can and do walk away from subsidized housing use in lucrative housing markets. Even if HUD funded Section 8 assistance for all eligible families and individuals there wouldn't be enough rental housing in some markets.

IMO HUD should move away from the focus on home ownership until the basic need for safe affordable rentals is met. Once that goal is accomplished they can shift back to a home ownership focus.

Traditional public housing got a bad rep because of faulty designs (too many units, too little space)and underwhelming management. In areas where the public housing authorities are well run and the housing stock well maintained, they're not bad places to live.