Public Housing: Status of the HOPE VI Demonstration

In its final report dated August 1992, the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing found that severely distressed public housing was a national problem. According to the Commission, 86,000 (or 6 percent) of the nation's public housing units, located primarily in deteriorating neighborhoods of large urban communities, were plagued by crime, unemployment, and deteriorated physical conditions. Moreover, the Commission maintained, the traditional approaches to address these problems were not working. Responding to the Commission's findings, the Congress created the HOPE VI-Urban Revitalization Demonstration Program2 in October 1992 to help public housing authorities revitalize severely distressed housing developments. As a demonstration program, HOPE VI was to foster innovative approaches to revitalization and to encourage housing authorities, residents, and local communities to work together with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in transforming distressed areas into productive residential and commercial centers.