Atlanta’s Public-Housing Revolution

Renee Glover's Fresh Approach Transforms Lives


Cabrini Green in Chicago.

Renee Glover is the subject of This Piece [click to read] by Howard Husock in City Journal. Glover took charge of the Atlanta Housing Authority in 1994. "She has drawn national recognition for the fact that during her tenure, Atlanta became the first city in the United States to tear down virtually all its projects. But Glover’s plan is far more ambitious than demolition: she has set out to transform the dysfunctional behavior that condemns people to languish for years in public housing. Her approach is the most dramatic change in any city’s public-housing system since Franklin Roosevelt created the program in 1937."

Massive public housing projects were built in the mid-Twentieth Century. On the outside, they seemed to replace squalid run-down Nineteenth Century buildings with an economy version of the tall buildings of, say, Manhattan's Upper West Side. Tall buildings rose over open plazas. Better housing would improve lives...

Today those buildings that remain are often a nightmare. Encouraged by our welfare system to remain so, single mothers and their kids huddle in their apartments while gangs rule the plazas below. Across the country they are coming down. The whole experiment has only proved that the destruction of the family unit is destructive to society as a whole. Men find family in their association with gangs and multiple generations have grown up now without experiencing the satisfaction of working to improve their world.

Glover has begun to change all that. But better programs alone cannot do the job completely. Here is an opportunity for those who seek a Divine Mission in today's world!

The Church as Transformative Agent

In times past, the Church played a vital role in revitalizing society. As government has increasingly taken over the role of charitable work, it might seem that the Church is no longer relevant. The failure of public housing and welfare policy should make us look again.

It is well documented history that Christians labored to abolish slavery, reform institutions and improve treatment for the mentally ill. You might be surprised to learn that reformer John Calvin helped to set up silk mills in Geneva "...to absorb surplus labor and to make possible the`ending of begging." [G. W. Broomley, Servive in Christ, p111].

Timothy Keller, in a work called Resources for Deacons points to the role of Christians in promoting economic development. We've reduced the charitable ministry to handing out help with the rent, but Keller describes situations where Christian businessmen actually buy housing and create opportunities for both decent housing and gainfull employment by rehabilitating them.

Driving through Waynesboro, one sees the former Virginia Metalcrafters plant and the South River Complex. A few years ago I helped someone create a vision for a high-end speaker assemby operation in one of the South River buildings. What other inspirations might come to us if we prayerfully open our eyes to possibilities others might have overlooked.