Public Housing Transgression

Fraser and Oakley have provided a compelling review of the hazards of the current public housing transformation project. I really appreciate their critical read on both the policy framework and its assumptions and how it has been implemented along with some specific guidance. On this last point, I particularly think it is important to consider the gravity of their observation that the “relationship between the state and the academy has been truncated as alternative perspectives offered by urban scholars critical of such initiatives have been largely dismissed or marginalized in policy circles.” As such an urban scholar, I agree with the statement. However, I do not think the authors have pushed this point nearly far enough if their goal really is “decoupling housing as a right from one's position in a capitalist society.” To do that I argue that we as urban scholars need to not only be critical of policy but also of the policy research that sustains this relationship as well.