THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409200012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Norfolk city officials, concerned that public-housing projects ringing downtown make it difficult to attract development, especially the hoped-for MacArthur Center, are thinking of revamping the three housing projects near the site.
``With the marshaling of resources . . . the right kind of creative energies and the cooperation of the community those neighborhoods could be beautiful, attractive, safe and inviting,'' the Rev. Anthony Paige, planning commissioner, said.
The Rev. Mr. Paige's goal is admirable. Plans to make public-housing beautiful, safe, attractive and inviting, however, have been tried in Norfolk and elsewhere, with little success. The central problem with public housing, unfortunately, is that it is public housing.
Reforms of all kinds, many of them from Republicans like former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, have been proposed, and some have been tried. These include evicting families if a member is involved in drug dealing, tenant-management corporations that give tenants more say in managing their buildings, identification cards issued to residents to keep troublemakers away, new facades and porches. But public housing still ends up breeding crime and decline.
Last spring, President Clinton even went so far as to propose allowing public-housing tenants to suspend their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure to allow warrantless searches for drugs and weapons.
Because of government ownership, people who live in public housing have little stake in maintaining the property, and neither does government. This lack of ownership helps breed dependency and bureaucratic management.
In Europe, tenants of public housing have been allowed to buy their units. A stake in the future of their community that comes with ownership gives people the strength and incentive to maintain their property and clean up their neighborhood.
Federal law, however, bars any such effort in this country. Congress has mandated that for every public-housing unit that is eliminated, a new one must be built to take its place. Other rules also make change exceedingly hard to implement.
Without options for dealing with the real reasons for dilapidated public housing, Norfolk officials are stuck with mere tinkering reforms. One suggestion by city officials is to give the three projects a face lift - pumping in money (hopefully, federal money) to make them look more inviting.
Without incentives for maintaining the property, however, even the best renovation will almost certainly deteriorate to its previous condition after a time. Probably the best hope for residents who want to get out of public housing is the jobs that will be generated by the center itself - if it happens. by CNB