Single solutions by themselves will not work. Silver bullets have gone the way of the six-shooter, even though the legacy of that perspective remains in the segregated array of federal and local programs that were created to help low-income communities.

Nicolas P. Retsinas is a senior lecturer in real estate at the Harvard Business School, the director emeritus of the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, and the former Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also served as director of the Office of Thrift Supervision.