distressed community
A concept that blames the victim. The factors that went into deciding that a community was ‘distressed’ were really measures of the quality of management, factors like the proportion of rents that were paid on time. Renters can only fall behind on payments if management is sloppy. This kind of stigmatizing label is bad for the psyche. As an alternative, it is important to protect the emotional health of residents by asking them to remember and preserve all the good that had happened in their buildings (and neighborhoods). (Fullilove, 2004, 178)