“Tipping” In Housing: A Hard Case

Suppose that all of New York City’s black middle-and working-class housing developments were plagued by crime and management neglect. Then a recent court settlement upholding “occupancy controls” in Brooklyn’s Starrett City, the country’s largest federally subsidized housing development, might make more sense. Starrett’s management insists that it must keep its minority population at roughly 40 percent in order to forestall white flight from the “inev...