In their view, there is much that needs to be done to clean up this extensive and expensive federal program. Rewriting the rules governing eligibility for public housing benefits might be a good place to start. Analysts note that a primary reason public housing has been a great failure is that bureaucrats have little incentive to maintain good public housing. Bureaucrats do not live in the 1.4 million public housing units the government owns in the name of 3,400 public housing authorities across the country. They lose nothing if the housing falls into disrepair, rent is not paid, drug dealers, prostitutes and criminals move in, and apartments are vandalized.
Analysts observe the government routinely pays thousands of dollars to repair individual apartments.
Funds could be used to issue housing vouchers, which experience has shown enables tenants to get better apartments for 40 percent less on average. New programs could provide tenant ownership and management of public housing. Analysts observe tenant ownership programs have transformed formerly troubled public housing projects into clean and well-maintained properties where rent is collected. Lazio's bill would require tenants to perform some community service and to set a target date for moving out of public housing and becoming self supporting. The bill also removes a disincentive to work by not permitting market rent levels to rise when the tenant's income rises, as is the case today.