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Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century Hardcover – Download: Adobe Reader, June 18, 2008

by Nicholas Dagen Bloom (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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When it comes to large-scale public housing in the United States, the consensus for the past decades has been to let the wrecking balls fly. The demolition of infamous projects, such as Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis and the towers of Cabrini-Green in Chicago, represents to most Americans the fate of all public housing. Yet one notable exception to this national tragedy remains. The New York City Housing Authority, America's largest public housing manager, still maintains over 400,000 tenants in its vast and well-run high-rise projects. While by no means utopian, New York City's public housing remains an acceptable and affordable option.

The story of New York's success where so many other housing authorities faltered has been ignored for too long. Public Housing That Worked shows how New York's administrators, beginning in the 1930s, developed a rigorous system of public housing management that weathered a variety of social and political challenges. A key element in the long-term viability of New York's public housing has been the constant search for better methods in fields such as tenant selection, policing, renovation, community affairs, and landscape design.

Nicholas Dagen Bloom presents the achievements that contradict the common wisdom that public housing projects are inherently unmanageable. By focusing on what worked, rather than on the conventional history of failure and blame, Bloom provides useful models for addressing the current crisis in affordable urban housing. Public Housing That Worked is essential reading for practitioners and scholars in the areas of public policy, urban history, planning, criminal justice, affordable housing management, social work, and urban affairs.

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  1. Print length
    368 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Pennsylvania Press
  4. Publication date
    June 18, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0812240774
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0812240771
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly recommended."—Choice



"While high-rise public housing in the United States is widely regarded as a disaster, the experiment in New York City has thrived for more than seventy years. Nicholas Bloom's well-written, well-researched, and well-illustrated work provides the most sophisticated answers yet to this American paradox."—Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University



"Nicholas Dagen Bloom's bold thesis is powerfully argued and effectively overturns much received wisdom about the history of public housing in the United States. This well researched and clearly written book will undoubtedly trigger a fierce debate both among historians and those interested in current housing policy."—Robert Bruegmann, author of Sprawl: A Compact History



"In Public Housing That Worked, Nicholas Dagen Bloom offers the best examination to date of the origins, choices, mistakes, and management of the New York City Housing Authority from its beginnings in the 1930s up through the present. He stresses effective management as the principal reason behind why the city's public stock of housing has survived in decent condition while scores of projects across the country have been demolished. The book should be essential reading for planners and policy analysts seeking a detailed look inside how and why New York's public housing became a notable if controversial exception."—John Goering, Baruch College and CUNY Graduate Center and former HUD project manager

About the Author

Nicholas Dagen Bloom is Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies at the New York Institute of Technology and author of Merchant of Illusion: James Rouse, America's Salesman of the Businessman's Utopia.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Pennsylvania Press (June 18, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812240774
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812240771
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

About the author

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Nicholas Dagen Bloom

Nicholas Dagen Bloom

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Nicholas Dagen Bloom is a Professor of Urban Policy of Planning and Director of the Master in Urban Planning Program at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He is the author/editor of ten books from leading academic presses and serves as a frequent reviewer/guest critic of scholarly manuscripts and published works in urban history. He has also been interviewed and quoted on housing and other topics in leading national and regional media sources, including WNYC, The New York Times, Gothamist, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR Marketplace. He is an editorial writer on various New York urban affairs and public policy topics.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • David Hoicka
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent history of New York public housing and lessons learned
    Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    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
    9 people found this helpful
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  • B. Wolinsky
    4.0 out of 5 stars New York City has huge high-rises in bad areas, where land is nonetheless at a premium
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2016
    Every city has its own unique public housing and problems that go with it. New York City has huge high-rises in bad areas, where land is nonetheless at a premium. Chicago had the Robert Taylor high-rises far from the city center, on a strip of land that nobody wanted. New Orleans had the Iberville Houses, only four stories high, and possible the very first of its kind in the USA. Boston had Old Colony, London had Broadwater Farm, and Paris has its “banlieues.” Wherever you go, public housing usually stinks. The questions of this book are as follows; why do they stink, and were there any that worked?
    Nicholas Bloom begins with the Depression in the USA, a time when everyone in the USA was broke and desperate for work. In NYC, the crumbling fire-trap tenements needed to be torn down, and with Hoovervilles springing up in Central Park, there was also a need for cheap apartments. Under Mayor LaGuardia there was a lengthily study of this problem, and it led to the founding of NYCHA. The New York City Housing Authority would start with just a few buildings, and for the most part it went well. But as the years went by, NYCHA would build many more buildings and become less adept at managing them.
    Bloom defines NYCHA as having higher standards than other cities, but staying cheap without going shoddy. New York City’s public housing does have a higher standard than Chicago, as with the poorly-built projects like James Honer, Robert Taylor, Ida Wells, and Cabrini-Green. Soviet visitors to Chicago once remarked on the poor quality of the Honer buildings, and how such terrible construction would cost a Soviet architect his job (and possible his life too) if he were to skimp on quality. Under Federal laws, the buildings couldn’t be far-off from the main parts of the city, or in an area badly-served by transit. This meant that to cram more people in, NYCHA had to use the high-rise approach, which didn’t foster a sense of neighborhood.
    Robert Moses also comes into play here. He didn’t want the public housing in the outer-reaches of the city; that would necessitate bringing public transport all the way to the suburbs. He also designed the Patterson Houses to be occupied by two-parent families, no single moms, prospective tenants had to show their marriage certificate to get in. The wicked Robert Moses thought such a rule would keep unruly tenants out, and for a while, he was right. But here’s where the problem started, one which nobody anticipated. Once the small 1950’s houses came within their means, the regular working people left the projects, replaced by Black and Puerto Rican families. The next wave of tenants didn’t meet the “21 traits” of Robert Moses, and there weren’t enough gainfully-employed two-parent families to fill the buildings. Single mothers on welfare with unruly kids moved in.
    Compared to Chicago’s housing and the Pruitt-Igoe houses in St. Louis, NYCHA buildings worked. But just because they’re still standing doesn’t mean they’re any good. They still look horrible, and they still diminish the sense of neighborhood. But unlike the extensive South Side of Chicago, NYC land is limited and costly. That’s the only reason the tenants in the worst buildings don’t move out. Did NYC public housing really work? Maybe, at first, it did.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Adam H Tanaka
    5.0 out of 5 stars A myth-busting history of public housing that traces the development ...
    Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    A myth-busting history of public housing that traces the development of the NYCHA portfolio from early New Deal experiments to the "post-welfare state" of today. Bloom pays particular attention to the role of property management in determining the success or failure of affordable housing, rejecting earlier critiques as overly focused on demographics or design. On the whole, his argument is both provocative and convincing. While the focus is mostly on NYC, Bloom compares/contrasts NYCHA's experience with that of other housing authorities at relevant moments (e.g. Chicago, Boston, LA, etc.).

    Essential reading for students of urban history, urban policy, and urban sociology, as well as practitioners in the field of housing.
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  • GG
    5.0 out of 5 stars satisfied customer
    Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This product was great. I received it in the time frame mentioned and the book was in great conditions. Very satisfied customer.
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  • E. Perry
    2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    not very informative or interesting As a 27 year retiree of NYCHA, I expected so much more
    8 people found this helpful
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  • P. Maloney
    5.0 out of 5 stars Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century
    Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2009
    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.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • ROROTOKO
    5.0 out of 5 stars Smart government can create decent social housing
    Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2009
    "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.
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  • DR
    1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2016
    Just another bully pushing his own liberal agenda. Don't waste you hard earned money.
    3 people found this helpful
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