Customer Reviews

Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century

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Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century.
by Nicholas Dagen Bloom, an associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology

Nicholas Bloom's book Public Housing That Worked is a fascinating and detailed history of public housing in New York from the tenements of the early 1900s to current theories and practices on social housing almost a century later. I own this book.

Professor Bloom's book discusses how good housing management practices are crucial to successful public housing and social housing programs. He notes that effective management includes both regular maintenance and "keeping patronage to a minimum, holding employees and tenants responsible for their behavior, seeking private sector help where necessary, and using politics to build and protect housing".

There are no easy solutions for affordable housing for hundreds of thousands of lower-income metropolitan New York residents. Professor Bloom's book focuses on drawing lessons learned from NYCHA to see what has worked and what needs improvement. At 354 pages with hundreds of footnotes and index, this book is a good resource for the affordable housing community and future housing programs.

David Hoicka

This is an excellent book, impeccably researched, and provides the first comprehensive history of NYC's public housing system. It is fascinating reading and I recommend it highly.

"Public Housing That Worked" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Bloom's book interview ran here as cover feature on May 18, 2009.

Nicholas Dagen Bloom has produced a definitive work on the history on the New York City Housing Authority. As a historian he demonstrates an objective and thorough knowledge of a well-researched topic. Highly recommended.