Failure to appreciate theimportant fact that poverty propagated itself in the absence of a parent or a social program that had time to help young childrenhas allowed child poverty to fester, compromising children’s ability to go to school, their willingness to learn, their attitudes, and their motivation. This is a major cause of worsening intergenerational mobility and poverty. The research findings of Chetty et al. confirm the importance of investing in schooling, of having stable families, and of building communities to provide positive encouragement and support for the disadvantaged. The isolated, remote public housing estates we have in Hong Kong are unlikely to foster such communities.The findings from the US and Hong Kong strongly suggest that public sector housing policy to subsidize low-income families should be changed from providing subsidized rental housing units to homeownership units. This would have three different effects for increasing intergenerational mobility among low-income households.
