Examines ways of rehabilitating a neighborhood's historic housing without imperiling an already tenuous social fabric. A model program, Operation Comeback in New Orleans, Louisiana, is assessed for its innovation in this respect. Operation Comeback has a two-pronged strategy: first, maintaining the houses of long-term owners unable to carry out the work themselves, these people being the link with the past; and second, helping low- to moderate-income people purchase and renovate vacant houses. In this way, it is hoped that a neighborhood spirit can be successfully engendered.