It took two months after my FOIA request for the government to turn it over, but I now have the list (mapped below) of 38 public housing authorities nationwide designated as "troubled" by the agency. A housing authority earns that unwanted distinction from a low rating on HUD's four-point performance assessment: physical conditions, financial conditions, management operations, and capital programs. As recently as 2010, 146 housing authorities - three of them in Minnesota - were on the troubled list. The decline in numbers likely has more to do with HUD changing the rules than a massive turnaround in public housing, although it's a question worth exploring. The largest agency on the list is the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco, where Mayor Ed Lee has cleaned house. Other poor performers are the housing authorities in Jersey City, N.J., and Gary, Indiana.