The Projects: A New History of Public Housing

How housing policy failed the people it was designed to help -- and how to fix it

As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects, Howard A. Husock explains how we got here, detailing the tragic rise and fall of public housing and the pitfalls of other subsidy programs. He takes us inside a progressive movement led by a group of New York City philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates who first championed public housing as a solution to urban blight. From First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the controversial city planner Robert Moses, many well-known historical figures made a convincing case for affordable housing in America.

Despite the movement's lofty ideals, the creation of the Projects led to the destruction of low-income communities across the country. From the Hill District in Pittsburgh to Black Bottom in Detroit, predominantly Black neighborhoods were judged only by the quality of their housing. Husock looks beyond these neighborhoods' physical conditions to their uncounted riches, from local artists like August Wilson to vital community institutions. As he shares residents' stories, he honors what they crafted through their own plans, rather than those of city planners.

Husock traces the history of public housing to contemporary debates on the government's role in the housing market. Through interviews with residents, he reveals how public housing transformed the lives of Americans and the physical faces of cities and towns. He ultimately critiques "repair and reform" efforts, making policy recommendations that address the core failings of public housing for the people it was once designed to help. Mapping out a better path for policy-makers, he lays a new foundation for upward mobility in America.

Author: Howard A. Husock
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 09/09/2025
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.06h x 5.91w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781479828432

About the Author
Howard A. Husock is Senior Fellow in Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of many books, including America's Trillion-Dollar Housing Policy Mistake: The Failure of American Housing Policy, The Poor Side of Town: And Why We Need It, Who Killed Civil Society? The Rise of Big Government and Decline of Bourgeois Norms, and Philanthropy Under Fire. Husock has received many awards for his work as a documentary film producer, including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, a National News and Documentary Emmy Award, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting award. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and many other leading publications.