Wayne Gilchrest: “There are some good public housing projects that work well and there are some bad public housing projects that work…”

“There are some good public housing projects that work well and there are some bad public housing projects that work terrible. What is the difference under the present regime? It is good management. It is not the people that live there that cause the problems of crime or drugs or rundown buildings. It is 100 percent of the responsibility of the management. If we have good management, we will have a good public housing project. If there is poor management, there will be rundown buildings, crime-ridden streets and people that live in despair and hopelessness. Accountability goes a long way, almost the whole way, in providing service, housing, safe housing, for people. What is the mystery of human initiative? Responsibility and dignity. The amendment the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) offers us today provides a better opportunity and better quality housing than anything we have done up to this point. I urge my colleagues to vote for the amendment.”