Causation goes both ways. Intelligent, educated, and well-paid Hacker News posters often don't understand the cloud of chaos, crime, poor decision-making, and deflected blame that hovers over the lives of many poor people. Section 8 landlords understand that while such people may comprise a minority of their tenants (or not), it only takes one to ruin a building and the surrounding neighborhood.

On a certain level this is common knowledge, reflected in the real estate markets of all big American cities. Dirt-cheap housing stock can be found in large swaths of Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, et cetera. It's cheap because even the most desperate families would rather live anywhere else, around anyone else.