I live across the street from a middle-tier housing project in NYC. My wife has taught some of the kids across the street as part of a community service thing, and we know a few of the families. Rent subsidies and handouts merely perpetuate dependency and inculcate laziness. The guy who delivers our Christmas tree every year openly brags about having inherited his rent-stabilized apartment from his mother and how that and his government payments (along with the tips he gets from delivering Christmas trees) enable him to drink vodka and do drugs and play guitar with his friends all day everyday. He has fewer teeth every time we see him, and this year, he doesn’t seem to be around.
I know this is not the case with all, but it is with many if not the vast majority, and the situation simply provides the wrong incentives.