Urban renewal was a big subject 20 years ago. The big downtown housing projects that had been built in the 1950s were being torn down. They had turned out to be too big and the residents had become hostages to the criminal element, unless they joined the crooks. The high rise projects had replaced low rise “slums” that, it turns out, were more people friendly. The next big thing was called SEction 8. This was a program that provided poor people with vouchers which they could use to rent housing in nicer neighborhoods. As a member of the Planning Commission in Mission Viejo, I saw the intense pressure being put on all small cities to build more “affordable housing,” usually in clusters so developers can maximize profit from the subsidies.
The results of all this are now coming in. It is not good.