The Glenn Show Howard Husock – The Failure of American Public Housing
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Nov 21, 2025 Howard Husock, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of "The Projects: A New History of Public Housing," examines the failures of American public housing. He discusses how public housing erased community ties and harmed urban Black neighborhoods. Husock challenges the necessity of slum clearance and critiques political proposals like rent freezes. He advocates for time limits on subsidies to foster mobility, while exploring innovative solutions like the Rental Assistance Demonstration to renovate aging housing.
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Destruction Of Community Social Capital
- Public housing often demolished functioning Black neighborhoods, eroding churches, businesses, and mutual aid networks.
- Howard A. Husock argues those losses destroyed social capital that supported entrepreneurship and mobility.
Patience Gromes And Deadly Loneliness
- Scott Davis's book and Patience Gromes show community collapse after urban renewal in Richmond.
- Husock recounts relocated residents who died within six months from loneliness after moving into public housing.
Utopian Design Undermined Urban Life
- Reformers were inspired by Le Corbusier and aimed to build a new, ordered city with 'campus' projects.
- Husock says that vision removed streets, stores, and everyday urban life, producing sterile, isolating developments.
