What follows is, depending on one's point of view, a tale of compassion, renewal and hope – or the textbook definition of insanity.

Judged on appearance alone, the Cottages at McMillen Park invite neither extreme. The 214-unit barracks-like apartment complex, built after World War II along McKinnie Avenue in southeast Fort Wayne, is hardly fashionable. But, thanks to $3 million worth of new siding, windows, air conditioners, appliances and other improvements in the 1990s, neither is it an obvious eyesore.

But take a closer look and you'll notice something odd: a near-total lack of activity reflecting the fact that just one-quarter of its units are occupied – almost all of them by low-income clients of the Fort Wayne Housing Authority. It's a void that has caused the federal government and other lenders to foreclose on the property, causing it to be placed in a sheriff's sale Dec. 9.

And after that, if all goes according to plan, the entire complex will be razed and replaced by new homes and other features with the help of – you guessed it – millions of dollars from the same federal government that helped pay for the face-lift little more than a decade ago.

With billions of dollars in stimulus funds available, it's hard to fault the city's application for a second round of neighborhood stabilization funds for about $62 million – part of which would go toward this project.

The small, one- and two-bedroom apartments are so “functionally obsolete,” according to city Deputy Director of Housing and Neighborhood Services Heather Presley, that even many would-be Housing Authority clients have declined vouchers requiring at least one year's residence there.

If the city can get the federal loot, acquire the property, then strike a deal with one or more firms Presley said have expressed an interest in helping pay for redevelopment, it would benefit potential residents, contractors, the southeast side and, ultimately, the entire city.

But if one definition of insanity is the stubborn refusal to adjust tactics in the face of serial defeats, the federal government's income-based housing strategies may qualify.

Housing Authority Board member Andy Downs is no doubt right when he said the McMillen Apartments are “not a place people are clamoring to live in” – even though the complex looks far better than when my grandmother lived there in the early 1960s.

Of the 52 units rented, 42 are filled by Housing Authority clients using project-specific vouchers requiring them to stay at least 12 months. Three are authority clients who could have used their vouchers elsewhere, and seven tenants are paying market rates. Downs said the Authority, which manages and partially owns the apartments, is trying to fill an additional 10 project-based vouchers.

“You should be picky about where you live,” Downs said before acknowledging the obvious: Living in even “functionally obsolete” apartments is preferable to many alternatives.

If the lack of affordable housing really is the problem homeless advocates insist it is, is the demolition of more than 200 dated but recently improved and mostly livable units really the best use of stimulus funds – especially when numerous nearby homes are in far worse shape or abandoned altogether?

And with the recent financial collapse at least partially attributable to the government's support of loans to homeowners who could otherwise not afford them, what assurance is there a new project on the same site would fare better than the old one?

As they sat and smoked on the front porch of their Willoughby Place apartment, 59-year-old Sandra Philbee and her 29-year-old daughter, Andrea, talked about how the complex had changed in the past three years.

“You can hear gunshots outside the apartments, and it was rowdy when we moved in. But it's nice and quiet now,” Sandra said, adding that, with the voucher, they pay about $290 for their two-bedroom apartment.

Andrea said she, her mother and her young son plan to move out next week because she has a new job and can afford a better place.

“Redoing everything would be great,” she said.

Yes, it could be. So if the city can get the stimulus money and find a developer able to add expertise and cash and attract residents and, possibly, businesses to an area badly in need of services, I won't object. But if the stimulus money doesn't come, that may be OK, too.

Jim Federoff, attorney for ROC McMillen Park LLC, the creditor who foreclosed on the complex and may control it after the tax sale, said “there has been some interest in the property” even if the city is forced to back out of plans to acquire it.

So, one way or another, something good may be about to happen. I'm happy about that.

I'll be happier still if taxpayers subsidize as little of it as possible.