That's One Way to Put It…

So the Urban Institute has circulated to journalists a press release about a series of studies released today on the HOPE VI program. The studies themselves seem (insofar as I'm remotely competent to evaluate this… which is not very far) are careful and rigorous. They find, in a nutshell, that people who are transitioned out of crappy public housing via the HOPE VI program find that their new homes are better along a number of dimensions, especially those who move into private housing. The improvements are often dramatic because the starting point was so wretched, but they still remain worse off than other poor households on those very dimensions. Except here's the press release headline:

FEDERAL PROGRAM LEADS TO BETTER HOMES AND NEIGHBORHOODS FOR PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS

Technically, that's true, but as a description of the findings it seems about on par with "Repeated Hammer Blows to Head Provide Pain Relief: It Feels Soooooo Good When You Stop." That aside, the studies look interesting if you're interested in housing policy.