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Public Housing Policy

Public Housing Policy . Public Housing Policy in America implemented the way it has over the last century has imposed contradictory pressures that are not well understood and lead to false understandings of how it operates today and how it can be improved.. Background. Public housing was never meant to

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Public Housing Policy

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    2. Public Housing Policy Public Housing Policy in America implemented the way it has over the last century has imposed contradictory pressures that are not well understood and lead to false understandings of how it operates today and how it can be improved.

    3. Background Public housing was never meant to “warehouse the poor.” It was meant to give working people a home – during periods of national economic crises.

    4. World War I Housing for defense contractor workers United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation The United States Housing Corporation

    5. Great Depression Put people to work by doing construction and remove blight Public Works Administration (PWA) 22,000 units built majority built in the north and large cities most tenants were White and working (WWII stimulated the economy)

    6. Housing Act of 1937 Set the Foundation for permanent public housing Allowed the creation of local public housing authorities that took over PWA housing

    7. Economic Efficiency of Public Housing Housing subsidies No new construction Stimulated demand too much for pre-existing low quality housing Conventional Public Ownership Construction spending put people to work New structures removed dilapidated buildings

    8. Housing Act of 1949 Additional construction Limited to very low income Fewer units built than originally planned

    9. Economic Efficiency Argument falls apart--1950s and 1960s No limit on price of land for public housing, but limit on cost per unit construction Result: Politics determined location. Shoddy projects built Rents collected were linked to income of residents: 30% Result: Not enough money to keep up the projects

    10. Racial Prejudice

    11. 1950s-1960s: The Civil Rights Movement

    12. Policies Trigger Change Education: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, U.S. Supreme Court (1954) “separate is inherently unequal” Domino effect: whites flee, poor African-Americans concentrated in public housing Redevelopment: 1) neighborhoods razed, more poor flee to public housing; 2) the stigmatization of public housing

    13. Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority (1966) Class action suit charging racial segregation in Chicago’s public housing (rights violations under Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment)

    14. The Design Bungle: Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project

    15. What Went Wrong? Modernist Architecture (but administrative short cuts) Designed for art not function - No “ownership” or control of public areas - Disconnection between living and recreational spaces - No services/activities for young people - Downward spiral

    16. Devolution starting in the 1970s Federal government owned 1 million units in 1974 Types -- 80% Conventional Public Housing: Government Built, Government Run -- 20% Turnkey: Private sector built, Government Run

    17. 1980s and 1990s Budget cuts, new emphases -- Resident Management -- Home Ownership: 1990 Act Encourages residents to buy their unit -- Private Market & Deconcentration: Section 8

    18. A Future for Public Housing?

    19. Residents of Public Housing Satisfaction Ambivalence

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