View Research by Author - Jeremy Gustafson

Publications

Launched in 1992, the $5 billion HOPE VI program represents a dramatic turnaround in public housing policy and one of the most ambitious urban redevelopment efforts to date. HOPE VI has also helped transform the Department of Housing and Urban Development's approach to housing assistance. Congress, the administration, housing groups, local elected officials, resident advocates, and the media are now asking challenging questions about what the investment has accomplished. This report looks at the extent to which HOPE VI has achieved its intended benefits and what lessons are offered for affordable-housing policy. A comprehensive literature review is included, as well as policy implications and future research priorities. [View the corresponding press release]

This monograph shows that sustained, targeted investments in local systems change can dramatically improve community ability to revitalize poor neighborhoods. Launched in 1991 by an unprecedented collaboration among private foundations and financial services corporations, the National Community Development Initiative pooled $254 million in financial support (including funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to invest in the financial, organizational, and political strength of nonprofit community development corporations. Two national community development intermediaries--the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and The Enterprise Foundation--were critical to organizing the local support needed to make the national program effective.

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