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"These Are The Ghettos Of Washington": Neoliberal Public Housing Redevelopment In Tacoma, Wa, Leah Rachel Montange

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From 2000-2011, the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) redeveloped Salishan, a worn down, family public housing neighborhood into a mixed income neighborhood of subsidized, senior, and market rate housing. With this redevelopment process as a case study, I sought to understand how the neoliberal turn in public housing interweaves with local specificities, including regulatory frameworks, political cultures, and housing economies. I used archival research, interviews, and discourse analysis to examine the remaking of Salishan. THA’s promotional literature, and the redevelopment itself, depict an amalgam of inclusive, redistributive, and neoliberal imaginations. For instance, the Tacoma Housing Authority made substantial effort to maximize …