Progressive activism in a neoliberal context: The case of efforts to retain public housing in the United States

Studies in Political Economy

Volumn , Issue 75, 2005, Pages 29-51

  Hackworth, Jason ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 21244436379     PISSN: 07078552     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/19187033.2005.11675128     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. W. Larner, "Neoliberalism?," Environment and Planning D 21 (2003), pp. 509-12;
2. W. Larner, "Neoliberalism: Policy, Ideology, Governmentality," Studies in Political Economy 63 (2000), pp. 5-25;
3. J. Peck, and A. Tickell, "Neoliberalizing Space," Antipode 34 (2002), pp. 380-404.
4. H. Girvetz, The Evolution of Liberalism (New York: Collier, 1963);
5. See also Peck and Tickell, "Neoliberalizing Space," pp. 380-404.
6. P. Anderson, "Renewals," New Left Review (2000), p. 17.
7. F. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944);
8. F. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960);
9. M. Friedman, Market or Plan? An Exposition of the Case for the Market (London: The Centre for Research into Communist Economies, 1984);
10. M. Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962);
11. M. Friedman and R. Friedman, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990).
12. J. Gray, Liberalism (London: Routledge, 1989).
13. N. Brenner and N. Theodore, "Cities and the Geographies of 'Actually Existing Neoliberalism,'" Antipode 34 (2002), pp. 349-379.
14. Peck and Tickell, "Neoliberizing Space," pp. 380-404;
15. A. Tickell, and J. Peck, "Social Regulation after Fordism: Regulation Theory Neo-liberalism and the Global-local Nexus," Economy and Society 243 (1995), pp. 357-386;
16. Brenner and Theodore, "Cities and the Geographies...," pp. 349-379;
17. K. Mitchell, "Transnationalism, Neo-liberalism, and the Rise of the Shadow State," Economy and Society 30 (2001), pp. 165-189.
18. Brenner and Theodore, "Cities and the Geographies...," pp. 349-379.
19. Peck and Tickell, "Neoliberizing Space," pp. 380-404;
20. Peck and Tickell, "Social Regulation after Fordism...," pp. 357-386.
21. For notable exceptions to this see M. Gilbert, "From the 'Walk for Adequate Welfare' to the 'March for Our Lives:' Welfare Rights Organizing in the 1960s and 1990s," Urban Geography 22/5 (2001), pp. 440-56;
22. J. Glassman, "From Seattle (and Ubon) to Bangkok: the Scales of Resistance to Corporate Globalization," Environment and Planning D 19 (2001), pp. 513-33.
23. N. Smith "Contours of a Spatialized Politics: Homeless Vehicles and the Production of Geographical Scale," Social Text 33 (1992a), pp. 54-81.
24. Of the 112.3 million total housing units in the United States, merely 1.2 million can be considered "public," in the sense that they were built by or subsidized by a more-or-less constant stream of federal funding. By comparison, nearly 25 percent of the housing market in the United Kingdom is comprised of public (or "council") housing, while in the Netherlands the figure is approximately 44 percent; See J. Doling, Comparative Housing Policy: Government and Housing in Advanced Industrialized Countries (New York: St Martin's Press, 1997).
25. P. Marcuse, "Mainstreaming Public Housing: A Proposal for a Comprehensive Approach to Housing Policy," New Directions in Urban Public Housing, D. Varady, D. Preiser and F. Russell, (eds.), (New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research Press, 1998), pp. 23-44;
26. R. Bratt, "Public Housing: The Controversy and Contribution," Critical Perspectives on Housing, R. Bratt, C. Hartman and A. Meyerson, (eds.), (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986), pp. 335-361;
27. M. Harloe, The People's Home: Social Rented Housing in Europe and America (London: Blackwell, 1995).
28. R. Bratt, and W.D. Keating, "Federal Housing Policy and HUD: Past Problems and Future Prospects of a Beleaguered Bureaucracy," Urban Affairs Quarterly 29/1 (1993), pp. 3-27.
29. It should also be noted that the Bush Administration recently announced that it was targetting the Section 8 program for cuts (if not removal). It is possible, in other words, that this roll-out policy could itself fall victim to roll-back destruction.
30. US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), "Quality Housing and Work Reform Act Background Material" (July 2003), http://www.hud.gov.
31. R. Bratt, "Public Housing: Introduction," Government and Housing: Developments in Seven Countries, W. van Vliet and J. van Weesep, (eds.), (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990), pp. 115-122.
32. H. Silver, "Privatization Self-help and Public Housing Homeownership in the US," Government and Housing: Developments in Seven Countries, W. van Vliet and J. van Weesep, (eds.), (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990), pp. 123-140.
33. US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Quality Housing and Work Reform Act Background Material (2003).
34. L. Vale, From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000).
35. I b i d.
36. I b i d.
37. Marcuse, "Mainstreaming Public Housing...," pp. 23-44.
38. Prior to 1995, all HOPE VI plans had to at least promise full-unit retention; many were unable to deliver on this promise. After the HUD requirement for full-unit retention was removed in 1995, PHAs began submitting plans that did not even intend to replace all (or in some cases any) of the existing housing units. See L. Keating, "Redeveloping Public Housing: Relearning Urban Renewal's Immutable Lessons," Journal of the American Planning Association 66 (2000), pp. 384-397.
39. The rest of the units will be either market-rate or more lightly subsidized than current public housing.
40. The remaining units will be reserved for tenants in other locations (within the PHA system) or for those on housing waiting lists.
41. It is "conservative" because it does not take into account "doubling up," which can be quite common in public housing.
42. US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (2003).
43. In a recent case brought before the US Supreme Court, the right of PHAs to evict tenants for criminal activity over which they have no direct control was unanimously upheld. In the case, three tenants were evicted for criminal behaviour committed by someone other than themselves: Pearlie Rucker, 63, was evicted when her mentally disabled daughter - at the time living with Ms. Rucker - was arrested for cocaine position three blocks away from her apartment building; Willie Lee, 71, and his partner Barbara Hill, 63, were evicted after their grandsons were caught smoking marijuana in the parking lot of the family's housing complex, and Herman Walker, 75, was evicted after his in-home caregiver (Mr. Walker is incapable of living alone because of medical reasons) was caught in possession of cocaine in Mr. Walker's apartment on three separate occasions.
44. It should also be noted that various officials (mainly rural Republicans in Newt Gingrich's mid-1990s Congressional majority) have recently sought something more ambitious than a mere restructuring of the program. In 1995, serious discussion was afoot to completely dismantle HUD and the housing that it funds (and manages). Although ultimately unsuccessful, the subsequent "reinvention" of HUD resulted in a highly compromised (from its Keynesian origins) institution. See US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HUD Reinvention: From Blueprint to Action (Washington, DC: HUD, 1995).
45. There are 164 HOPE VI implementation grant recipients in total.
46. US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (1995).
47. See L. Keating, Journal of the American Planning Association for a critical description of this process.
48. A. Robinson, "Confrontation and Lawsuit Fuel Debate on Housing Plan," 2001 South Florida Community Development Coalition Newsletter http://www.floridacdc.org.
49. Quoted in A. Robinson, 2001 South Florida Community Development Coalition Newsletter.
50. J. Hartung and J. Henig, "Housing Vouchers and Certificates as a Vehicle for Deconcentrating the Poor: Evidence from the Washington DC Metropolitan Area," Urban Affairs Review 323 (1997), pp. 403-419.
51. P. Fischer, "Section 8 and the Public Housing Revolution: Where will the Families Go?," http://www.metroplanning.org/resources/ 101intro.asp.
52. Hartung and Henig, Urban Affairs Review.
53. This is not to deny the significance of activist litigation that was very much in line with the goals of HOPE VI in the early 1990s. Inequitable demolition plans in at least thirteen American cities were the ironic result of settlements to well-intended lawsuits filed on behalf of tenants to deconcentrate urban poverty by demolishing public housing complexes. But as the implementation details of these settlements became clearer in the mid-1990s, the overwhelming emphasis of tenant litigation has been directed against the HOPE VI program and its methods.
54. Housing Research Foundation, HOPE VI press clippings (2003), http://www.housingresearch.org.
55. A. Robinson, 2001 South Florida Community Development Coalition Newsletter.
56. I b i d.
57. Housing Research Foundation, HOPE VI press clippings (2003);
58. A. Robinson, 2001 South Florida Community Development Coalition Newsletter.
59. Housing Research Foundation, HOPE VI press clippings (2003).
60. Housing Research Foundation, HOPE VI press clippings (2003).
61. J. DeVault, "HOPE VI Suit Names Kelly," The Common Denominator (2001), http://www.thecommondenominator.com.
62. J. Bush, "Prickly Holly: Activists Charge Conflict of Interest in the Most Expensive Housing Project in Seattle's History," Seattle Weekly (11-17 March 1999), http://www.seattleweekly.com.
63. F. Baca, Unpublished Memorandum, http://www.hud.gov.
64. O. Newman, "Defensible Space: A New Physical Planning Tool for Urban Revitalization," The Journal of the American Planning Association (Spring 1995), pp. 149-155;
65. O. Newman, Defensible Space (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1972);
66. J. Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (London: Peregrine, 1961).
67. See for examples: A. Coleman, Utopia on Trial: Vision and Reality in Planned Housing (London: Hillary Shipman, 1985);
68. D. Schnee, "An Evaluation of Robert Pitts Plaza: A Post Occupancy Evaluation of New Public Housing in San Francisco," New Directions in Urban Public Housing, D. Varady, D. Preiser and F. Russell, (eds.), (New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research Press, 1998), pp. 104-118;
69. D. Varady and W. Preiser, "Scattered-site Public Housing and Housing Satisfaction: Implications for the New Public Housing Program," Journal of the American Planning Association 64 (1998), pp. 189-207.
70. P. Marcuse in New Directions in Urban Public Housing;
71. J. Stockyard, "Epilogue: Public Housing - the Next Sixty Years?," New Directions in Urban Public Housing, D. Varady, D. Preiser and F. Russell, (eds.), (New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research Press, 1998), pp. 237-264;
72. K. Bristol, "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth," Journal of Architectural Education 44 (1991), pp. 163-171;
73. R. Bratt, "Public Housing: Introduction," Government and Housing: Developments in Seven Countries, W. van Vliet and J. van Weesep (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1999).
74. C. Vergara, "Hell in a Very Tall Place," Atlantic Monthly (September 1989), pp. 72-78.
75. H. Cisneros, "The Public Interest The Greater Good: How Government Should Work," The Journal of Housing and Community Development (March/April 1995a), pp. 27-33;
76. H. Cisneros, "Defensible Space: Deterring Crime and Building Community," (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1995b);
77. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD Reinvention: From Blueprint to Action (1995).
78. H. Cisneros, "The Public Interest The Greater Good...," p. 30.
79. Housing Research Foundation (2003).
80. See J. Hackworth, "Public Housing and the Re-scaling of Regulation in the US," Environment and Planning A 35(2003), pp. 531-549, for a more in-depth discussion of the unevenness of public housing policy implementation in the HOPE VI era.