As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects, Howard A. Husock explains how we got here, detailing the tragic rise and fall of public housing and the pitfalls of other subsidy programs. He takes us inside a progressive movement led by a group of New York City philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates who first championed public housing as a solution to urban blight.

Despite the movement’s lofty ideals, the creation of the Projects led to the destruction of low-income communities across the country. From the Hill District in Pittsburgh to Black Bottom in Detroit, predominantly Black neighborhoods were judged only by the quality of their housing.

Husock traces the history of public housing to contemporary debates on the government’s role in the housing market. He reveals how public housing transformed the lives of Americans and the physical faces of cities and towns. He ultimately critiques "repair and reform" efforts, making policy recommendations that address the core failings of public housing for the people it was once designed to help. Mapping out a better path for policy-makers, he lays a new foundation for upward mobility in America.

The book is published by New York University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

"A sweeping and fascinating chronicle of public housing America. Husock is a worthy successor of the great Jane Jacobs." (Edward Glaeser, Harvard University)

"Intellectually honest and refreshingly non-ideological...delivers fresh insight and original thinking." (Steven Pearlstein, Pulitzer prize-winning columnist, Washington Post)

"Richly researched and lucidly written...a compelling case study in hubris whose lessons are urgently needed." (Heather Mac Donald, Manhattan Institute)