Synopses & Reviews
Demonstrating how public housing projects are stigmatized and stereotyped as havens of poverty, illegal activity, and violence, this study contends that the problems with which they are so often associated are not inherent but the result of structural inequalities and neoliberal government policies. It urges a reconsideration of the fate of this type of housing tenure, arguing that urban povertydubbed as spatially concentrated racialized poverty” by the authoris not solved by razing public housing. Instead, he illustrates how these projects can be rebuilt from within based on their communities strengths and supported by meaningful public investment. It provides hope that vibrant and healthy neighborhoods can be created while maintaining much-needed low-income housing. Four projects are exploredin Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and Winnipegthrough the voices of actual residents who affirm that their projects can be ideal homes, if the political will exists.
Synopsis
Public housing projects are stigmatized and stereotyped as bad places to live, as havens of poverty, illegal activity and violence. In many cities they are being bulldozed, ostensibly for these reasons but also because the land on which they are located has become so valuable. In Good Places to Live, Jim Silver argues that the problems with which it is so often associated are not inherent to public housing but are the result of structural inequalities and neoliberal government policies. This book urges readers to reconsider the fate of public housing, arguing that urban poverty - what Silver calls spatially concentrated racialized poverty - is not solved by razing public housing. On the contrary, public housing projects rebuilt from within, based on communities' strengths and supported by meaningful public investment could create vibrant and healthy neighbourhoods while maintaining much-needed low-income housing. Considering four public housing projects, in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax and Winnipeg, Silver contends that public housing projects can be good places to live - if the political will exists.
About the Author
Jim Silver is a professor and director of urban and inner-city studies at the University of Winnipeg. He is the author of Building a Better World, Doing Community Economic Development, In Their Own Voices, Solutions That Work, and Thin Ice. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.