The Great Blight Hope: Despite Some Notable Successes, Hud's HOPE VI Program May Prove There's No One-Size-Fits-All Solution to the Country's Public-Housing Crisis‪.‬

The house-trailer--like duplexes at Park Lake Homes will soon vanish from this part of King County, just north of Seattle, replaced by the welcoming townhouses, parks, and orderly streets of a village called Greenbridge. Built in 1943 to house factory workers during World War II, Park Lake Homes was converted into public housing a decade or so later. Now, says residents' council president TerryLynn Stewart, the buildings are "rotting from the inside out." The number of dwellings here will swell from 500 to 1,000 to include new public-housing, affordable, and market rate units. Rather than benefit from the transformed neighborhood herself, Stewart plans to relocate permanently with a Section 8 certificate, to be near her daughter and new grandchild 60 miles away. "My circumstances cause me to move, but I think they're doing a good thing here that will bring the community up and make it a better place," she says.