Cover Story: An interview with Renee Glover
Atlanta Housing Authority CEO talks about transforming public housing
Atlanta Housing Authority CEO Renee Glover has earned accolades from city leaders and the federal government for using a mix of federal HOPE VI grants and private funds to reinvent public housing.
Over the past decade, Glover has spearheaded the transformation of 13 public housing complexes from segregated ghettos to mixed-income communities. Those transformations have set into motion several neighborhood-wide revitalizations.
But Glover also has been criticized for a strategy that many describe as a recipe for gentrification — cooked up by an agency whose mission once was to serve the poor, not to spur economic development.
She responded to CL’s questions via e-mail.
What’s been the most positive outcome of the AHA’s public housing project transformation initiative to date?
Families have benefited from the opportunity to live in a safer, healthier environment and to break the cycle of poverty. Neighborhoods have benefited from lower crime, elimination of blight, and the restoration of thriving communities that attract new investment. Children and their families benefit from better schools, which are integral to the transformation.
What, to you, is the definition of a successful public housing subsidy program?
Public housing was never meant to be a way of life, a trap that multigenerations of people can’t escape. For decades, residents of conventional public housing projects have struggled with the stigma of living almost completely dependent upon an oppressive, demoralizing institution. Living in highly concentrated poverty deprives them of their potential and dignity.
A well-conceived and managed subsidy gives people the means to escape concentrated poverty and pursue their dreams.
Have you witnessed or heard of any negative side effects of displacing such a large amount of housing subsidy-dependent people?
It is a misconception that revitalizations displace people.
Dr. Danny Boston, professor of economics at Georgia Tech, tracked families both affected and unaffected by revitalizations and found those affected were much better off.
First, they had higher employment rates, made more money and enjoyed a higher standard of living.
Second, specifically regarding displacement, Dr. Boston found that people who continued to live in conventional public housing were even more likely to leave the system than those whose neighborhoods were revitalized, and sickness and death were much more likely to be the reasons they left.
Finally, AHA is providing housing subsidies to more people now than it was before HOPE VI revitalizations began.
How can the housing authority guarantee that voucher-holders find suitable housing in areas served by mass transit?
Housing Choice allows families to decide where they want to live. AHA’s current listings include more than 10,000 available units spread across the city. Families choose the property before AHA gets involved. This allows them to make their own choices regarding proximity to schools, stores, employment and public transportation.
How do you think the housing project transformation has impacted the city as a whole?
Although it’s impossible to prove a correlation between the revitalizations and a citywide drop in crime, it is a fact that crime has dropped sharply in the transformed neighborhoods. Police statistics show Techwood Homes saw a 92 percent drop in major crimes after transformation into Centennial Place. The drop was similar at the Villages of East Lake (formerly East Lake Meadows, aka “Little Vietnam”).
One of the greatest legacies of revitalization will be a better-educated work force once children of the revitalizations graduate. Centennial Place Elementary School enjoys some of the highest scores on standardized tests in the entire school system. Its predecessor, Fowler Street Elementary, suffered from some of the lowest.
Finally, reinvestment in properties that lay fallow for decades is spurring a rebirth in the city’s core, creating a new urban landscape that will continue attracting families to the city, mitigating the crushing impact of suburban sprawl.
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The report was compiled by Mara Shalhoup and Michael Wall, with assistance from Ken Edelstein and Sarah Winterfield
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