Congress has forced HUD to cut or change many programs to lower costs. But Congress contends that they also want to expand services to the temporarily needy, and eliminate multi-generation families who rely on public housing. Other changes in the programs deal with illegal immigration and drug use. Legislation first passed during the great depression was intended primarily as jobs programs, to construct government owned public rental housing in major cities. The first public housing in the nation built under the 1937 Housing Act was Atlanta's Techwood Housing Project, and Santa Rita Courts in Austin, Texas.
Public housing has unique problems and a reputation to match.
The voters perception since the 1980's is of graffiti covered slums, located primarily in inner cities, that have become the most visible symbol of America's welfare failure. Many public housing projects are indeed drug infested slums, in part because of the inability to properly screen out potential problem tenants, or ever evict them from public housing. See our Public Housing Pages. More Government has contributed to the affordable housing crises in a large number of ways, most probably unintended. However, because regulators often over-regulate, it now costs much more to provide a rental housing unit than it does if the same building is owner occupied.