When we look at the public housing systems of most major US cities, it is easy to see that they do not provide a sufficiently safe, quality environment at a reasonable cost to taxpayers. Yet there is cause for optimism. Though clearly broken, the United States’ public housing systems can be fixed. The proof lies in cities like Charleston, Richmond, and Omaha, where public housing provides an attractive quality of life—at a sustainable cost.

The runaway costs that plague public housing are only the symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. The fashionable fix of simply cutting budgets and giving states or cities discretion in how they spend them is not the answer. The issue is not who spends what but how the system is managed.

While America’s public housing systems are not, on average, well managed, there are shining exceptions to show that a good quality of living and low costs can go hand in hand. Cutting-edge public housing systems like those of Richmond, Omaha, and Charleston—where crime is actually lower than in the city of Charleston itself—demonstrate that it is possible to provide excellent public housing and...