Sadly public housing in the United States has been a policy failure that's tied to our issues regarding poverty and race. The only way I see public housing wor

Sadly public housing in the United States has been a policy failure that's tied to our issues regarding poverty and race. The only way I see public housing working in an American context is if it was seen to benefit the middle class, kind of like how FHA loans and the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs exist to help middle class households get mortgages with low down payments. I also know that some Bay Area municipalities have below-market rentals and for-purchase developments; some municipalities require all significant housing developments to set aside some below-market units. Disclaimer: I grew up poor and I have relatives who lived in public housing; the environments they lived in were very rough, not only in terms of the quality of housing, but also in terms of living in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Now, I'm not saying that public housing has to be that way; I've heard good things about Singapore's public housing.