Follow Elon Musks USAID model to free tenants from public-housing hell

The willingness of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to take on sacred cows is stunning Washington, as tenets long unquestioned suddenly fall like idols destroyed by Abraham.  The same creative destruction should be focused on a bad idea that has harmed cities and fostered dependency for nearly a century: public housing.  Instead of tinkering around its edges, Musk and his minions, as per their approach to the Agency for International Development, should look to phase out “the projects” altogether — by selling off the properties and buying out tenants. It’s time for government to get out of the housing business — which it never should have been involved with in the first place and which it has proven incompetent to manage.The first and best reason for exiting public housing is the condition of the projects themselves — and the ill effects on the supposed beneficiaries, the tenants. The nation’s largest housing authority, that of New York City, faces a backlog of $80 billion in deferred maintenance, which translates to routine leaks, mold and elevator failures through the 326 “developments.”The danger of falling bricks is so common that scaffolding remains up for years — providing cover for criminals.The same story has been true across the country; more than 200,000 public-housing units have had to be demolished over the past 20 years because they proved uninhabitable. Foolishly, New York state is choosing to use taxpayer dollars to repair the aged buildings, in which no sane private realtor would invest. It’s even allowing tenant elections, in which Housing Authority employees can vote, to choose those same failed employees to do the repair work. Here’s what should get Musk and DOGE’s attention: A great many of the public-housing sites are valuable real estate; their sale and development could spark a building boom of new housing, stores and offices.  The property values are eye-popping: The Baruch Houses ...