ABSTRACT
This chapter provides public housing, describes the physical dimensions of the part of America's housing stock, and considers whom it serves. It explores the factors researchers have held responsible for the failures of parts of public housing. The chapter describes the tactical responses to the malfunctions and current thinking about public housing. Public housing is the oldest form of government assisted housing in the United States. Two key types of challenges to understand about the history of public housing are the financial challenges it faced, and the challenges posed by the design of public housing structures. Poor design has historically shared the blame for many of the problems public housing has faced. Criminal elements did exist in the housing and vandalism did occur, but many of the tenants were victims of the life-threatening conditions. In 1992, the Housing and Urban Development completed a report on public housing to gauge the amount of "distressed" housing that persisted.
