HOPE VI was an American public-housing redevelopment programme that ran from 1993 to 2010. It invested $17bn of public and private money to demolish decaying high-rise towers and replace them with smaller-scale, mixed-income housing. Nearly 100,000 public-housing units were torn down across the country. Only three-fifths were replaced by new public-housing units; the rest were affordable and market-rate homes.
The programme was one of the most ambitious efforts to remake high-poverty communities ever undertaken in America. It drew accusations of gentrification: only about a quarter of original households returned to the new developments. But research by Raj Chetty and co-authors found that children who grew up from birth in the revitalised housing went on to earn about 50% more, largely because of interactions with wealthier neighbours. The researchers concluded that these improvements were "really driven by the causal effect of place". The effect came not just from new neighbours on the estates but also from nearby families who mingled more after the renovations.
While the programme did not greatly change adults' economic outcomes—incomes for those living in public housing stayed the same—HOPE VI children who moved into revitalised developments earned 16% more at the age of 30, were 17% more likely to attend college and, among boys, were 20% less likely to be incarcerated. Other research has shown that because the original estates were so dire, many children actually benefited from being displaced.
The Lex Street area in West Philadelphia is one example. In 2000 the neighbourhood was the site of one of the worst mass murders in Philadelphia's history, when seven were killed in a dilapidated row house. Three 17-floor public-housing towers were demolished and replaced with over 600 houses, mixing council housing with units sold or rented to low-income tenants.
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