This Is Public Housing. Just Don’t Call It That.

The Laureate is one of those apartment buildings that developers love to build and anti-gentrification types love to hate. Marketed as “inspired living,” it sits outside Washington, D.C., across the street from a Starbucks and a short walk from the Metro’s red line. The boxy frame and clean lines mark it as a haven for young professionals, and it is part of an effort by Montgomery County, Md., to turn a former industrial area with a bus yard into a high-cost insta-neighborhood.

Technically speaking, the Laureate is also public housing.

When it opened...