The Review
How the Government Bulldozed Poor Communities, Compounded Ills

Vol. 42, No. 02

02/01/2026

How the Government Bulldozed Poor Communities, Compounded Ills

William P. Hoar

The Projects: A New History of Public Housing, by Howard A. Husock, New York: New York University Press, 2025, 240 pages, hardcover.


The initial sentences of The Projects: A New History of Public Housing cut through a subject that is often congested with academic underbrush, likening current public housing to a modern-day poorhouse — “a residence of last resort.” In clear language, author Howard A. Husock describes a median public household in the United States. With an annual income of about $9,000, residents are living amid poorly maintained structures with high rates of crime as well as numerous social and physical ills.

Husock is a senior fellow in domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of numerous books on the general housing theme. His writing has appeared in, among other publications, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

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