Keith Romer

Then it was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

The tower was part of a development called Cambridge Plaza.

Wysina and some friends had walked over to see just what happened when you blew up a 14-story building.

Wysina, she herself lived in public housing.

She grew up in a low-rise development nearby called the Richard Allen Homes.

So Wysina was thrilled when she and her mom and her son and her sister were allowed to move into a brand new home in Richard Allen, funded by Hope Six.

But there wasn't enough funding to redo all of public housing in the United States.

Some folks got to live in newer, better buildings.

Others, they were stuck with the older, worse buildings.

And in that way, Hope Six created a kind of nationwide experiment.

And if that approach worked to lift people out of poverty, maybe it could become a model for poor neighborhoods all over the country.

But no one really knew whether that HOPE VI experiment actually worked.

Until now.

Thank you.

Wow, you really sold it.

That's like the worst trailer ever.

You should do it with a deeper voice.

Remember those 90s movies where it was that one guy who did all of them?

The evidence is compelling.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money.