How long has the spreading of public housing to other neighborhoods been going on?
Can't expect short term success when the stated goal is "infusing the poor with middle-class habits". That's going to take a generation to show results.
Let's look at a comparable situation with a longer track record then. Ferguson, MO was a solidly middle class neighborhood with average to below average crime rates several decades ago. Like Chicago and many other cities, St. Louis' poor communities began to gentrify forcing some lower income people out to more affordable living in the burbs. Ferguson began to change over in the 1970s, so a couple decades before the Chigao housing projects were closed. Realistically, we are looking at two generations in Ferguson. Have the St. Louis residents who relocated to Ferguson been imbued with middle-class habits such that they were uplifted? Or has Ferguson been imbued with the inner-city habits and been dragged down? It can be both, but which is more prevalent?
The same can be said for numerous locations throughout America. For example, Washington, DC has a declining poor, black population due to gentrification.
Most of those poor black people have relocated to previously solid middle-class Prince George's County, MD. Have the DC residents who relocated to PG County been imbued with middle-class habits such that they were uplifted? Or has PG County been imbued with the inner-city habits and been dragged down? It can be both, but which is more prevalent?
i wrote a paper about this in '93 for my college English class.. when it was just being talked about. long before the plan was implemented.
