Boston's Housing Experiment

In hopes of revitalizing one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, the Boston Housing Authority experiment with bringing middle class residents into the community has produced mixed results.

1 minute read

June 9, 2001, 8:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


"Elizabeth Shanley and Tricia Claussen recall the odd, unfriendly looks from neighbors the day they moved into their spacious, two-level, two-bedroom apartment last year. They were middle-class, white women from the suburbs moving into a $2,000-a-month apartment in Mission Main, a development where most tenants are racial minorities with very low incomes. Some longtime residents eyed the roommates with suspicion...Almost two years after Mission Main - long the area's most troubled public housing development - began a bold social experiment in renting luxury apartments to middle-class tenants, Claussen and Shanley remain strangers in a foreign land, lacking common ground with the poor, single mothers who live around them."

Thanks to Christian Peralta

Friday, June 8, 2001 in The Boston Globe

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

White and purple sign for Slow Street in San Francisco, California with people crossing crosswalk.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths

Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

July 1, 2025 - KQED

Google street view image of strip mall in suburban Duncanville, Texas.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall

A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

6 hours ago - Parking Reform Network

Blue tarps covering tents set up by unhoused people along chain link fence on concrete sidewalk.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work

Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

July 6 - Next City

Aerial tram moving along cable in hilly area in Medellin, Colombia.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle

Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.

July 6 - InTransition Magazine