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53-551: In 1996, The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) created the financial and legal model for mixed-income communities or MICs , that is, communities with both owners and renters of differing income levels, that include public-assisted housing as a component. This model is used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOPE VI revitalization program. As of 2011, it has resulted in all housing projects having been demolished, with partial replacement by MICs. The first of these, Centennial Place, has been recognized by HUD and

106-537: A child-care facility and retail shops. There were plans to include homeownership units. In 1994, Renee Glover became chairperson of the AHA, and became a major advocate for the Centennial Place project. After its completion, she began to work towards demolishing the rest of Atlanta's public housing, with the goal of replacing them with "Mixed-Income Communities" , or MICs. This concept was formalized in 1996, and

159-473: A fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD was charged with approving the applications for demolitions. The AHA continues to provide housing or housing assistance to low-income families, albeit at a smaller scale. 12 communities are owned by the AHA and overseen by private property management firms, including 10 senior high-rises and 2 low-rise complexes for families. They are home to 1,793 households. Since 1995,

212-426: A few smaller projects completed after that date. During the 70s and 80s, the AHA came under increasing criticism, such as from The Great Speckled Bird , over its management of its complexes, as violence and physical deterioration began to grow. When Atlanta won its bid to host the 1996 Olympics, city leaders worried that the public housing complexes would be an international embarrassment. Under chairperson Renee Glover,

265-473: A limit of $ 808 million per year. Federal subsidies helped alleviate potential hurdles in acquiring land with high purchase costs. In some cases, cities were unwilling to progress with slum clearance unless significant amounts of the original upfront cost could be reclaimed by sale of the improved land. Estimates from the National Association of Home Builders suggested that subsidies authorized to

318-472: A tour of public housing in the city that focused on their deteriorating conditions. With rising crime rates city-wide and several high-profile crime stories that involved the projects, the Atlantan public began to see public housing as a new version of the slums. East Lake Meadows in particular became known as "Little Vietnam" due to the high number of shooting deaths. In 1990, Atlanta was selected to hold

371-657: A variety of relocation options and long-term assistance that included federal rent-assistance vouchers good anywhere in the country. However, not all residents qualified for the vouchers. Site of former Grady Homes in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood. Includes the Veranda at Auburn Pointe complex. Site of former Harris Homes, built 1956 Site of former Kimberly Courts, off-site for Techwood/Clark Howell Formerly off-site for Techwood/Clark Howell Site of former Capitol Homes Site of former Techwood Homes and Clark Howell in

424-476: A virtual exhibition of the project. When Centennial Place opened, the concept had changed to that of a mixed income community, with only 300 of the previous 1100 units remaining for low-income residents. Centennial Place was positively recognized by HUD and the Urban Land Institute . As of 2007, Centennial Place had a math, science and technology-focused elementary school, a YMCA, a branch bank,

477-801: The 1952 presidential election , President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower referred to the requirement of having decent housing for Americans forced to live in slums as a "moral obligation". In 1957, Congress began planning for new legislation that would help to clear slum areas, having authorized the federal government to provide $ 1.25 billion of funding since 1949 to cities for regeneration or demolition of run-down neighborhoods. States that were promised funding included $ 143 million for New York , $ 83 million for Illinois and nearly $ 29 million for Massachusetts . Some states, such as Florida , Mississippi and South Carolina , did not pass laws that would have allowed their communities to participate in slum clearance schemes. The Eisenhower administration intended to reduce

530-539: The Centennial Hill district of Downtown Atlanta Replaced the 41 acres (17 ha) 588-unit McDaniel-Glenn Homes in the northwest corner of Mechanicsville , torn down between February and May 2006. Formerly off-site for East Lake Meadows Formerly off-site for East Lake Meadows Opened in 2000 on the site of former John Eagan Homes in Vine City In NPU Z in southwest Atlanta. Recognized by

583-896: The Industrial Revolution , where workers would crowd into subdivided or makeshift dwellings because no new housing was available. Congress authorized $ 20,000 for a survey of large city slum conditions in 1892, although did not take any action until the final year of the Hoover administration in 1932. The definition of a slum was classed by the Federal Housing Act of 1937 as "any area where dwellings predominate which, by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangements or design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation facilities, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health or morals". Clearance programs garnered some criticism, particularly at

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636-729: The Urban Land Institute . As of 2007, Centennial Place had a math, science and technology-focused elementary school, a YMCA, a branch bank, a child-care facility and retail shops. There were plans to include homeownership units. In 2011, the agency also tore down the Roosevelt House and Palmer House senior-citizen high-rises and relocated residents into other properties. However, the John O. Chiles and Cosby Spear senior citizen high rises remained open. AHA took advantage of relaxed federal rules in effect through 2010 to raze all remaining communities. The agency offered residents who qualified

689-403: The "wrong" type of people to be living in the city, helpless to prevent it without proper policy or controls in place. Between 1932 and 1952, eradication of slums was federally supported, yet nearly every city still contained neighborhoods with derelict or unsafe housing. The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932 approved slum clearance loans and new low-rent housing, yet New York City

742-404: The 1996 Summer Olympics. This led many city leaders to become concerned about the state of public housing in the city, at a time when HUD had labelled the AHA one of the worst housing authorities in the nation. On the national level, concerns about the state of public housing had led Congress to appropriate funds for HOPE VI , a program designed to revitalize public housing. In 1993, Atlanta won

795-514: The AHA has helped fund the creation of 16 mixed-income communities owned by private developers. These serve 3,996 households. The AHA provides housing vouchers to 8,391 households. Through a program called Homeflex, the AHA assists private developers in providing housing to 3,364 qualifying households. Finally, the HAVEN program provides 1,941 households at risk of homelessness with housing and intensive counseling dispersed throughout their programs. At

848-569: The AHA won Federal HOPE VI funding to tear down many of the public housing complexes, including Techwood. After the Olympics, the campaign to tear down Atlanta's public housing continued, and by 2011 all traditional-style units were torn down or sold to private entities. The AHA now provides six primary housing services, most prominently housing vouchers and mixed-income developments. The movement to construct public housing in Atlanta began during

901-529: The AHA's first chairperson, and under him and his successors, the agency continued to clear slums and build public housing complexes. The first phase of construction lasted from 1938 to 1941, and was financed with funds from the Wagner-Steagall Act . The second phase was from 1951 to 1956, using grants funded by the Housing Act of 1949 . The final phase took place from 1962 to 1973, with only

954-648: The Atlanta Housing Authority. It would be overseen by a five-member board of commissioners appointed by the Mayor, but otherwise be politically independent from the city. The Board of Aldermen granted the AHA the power of eminent domain and tax exemption, and later delegated to it the task of overseeing urban renewal. Charles Palmer was elected the first chairman of the Board of Commissioners in 1938, and would serve in that position until 1940. Throughout

1007-762: The United States Slum clearance in the United States has been used as an urban renewal strategy to regenerate derelict or run-down districts, often to be replaced with alternative developments or new housing. Early calls were made during the 19th century, although mass slum clearance did not occur until after World War II with the introduction of the Housing Act of 1949 which offered federal subsidies towards redevelopments. The scheme ended in 1974 having driven over 2,000 projects with costs in excess of $ 50 billion. Contemporary slums have been dated back to population growth in industrial cities during

1060-816: The United States. Despite his opposition to the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was only with the creation of the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 that Palmer was able to win approval for a public housing project, to be built in Techwood Flats. Techwood Flats was a mixed-race community located between Georgia Tech and downtown Atlanta, with buildings that often lacked running water or electricity. Charles Palmer claimed that he selected Techwood Flats specifically because it lay on his commute from northwest Atlanta into downtown. At this point in time, slum clearance

1113-405: The approval of funds to construct Bowen Homes . This was completed in 1964, and was followed by such projects as Antoine Graves , Bankhead Courts , and East Lake Meadows, among others. In general, these projects were larger and of lower quality than those built before 1956. The projects were some of the last public facilities to be desegregated; this occurred only in 1968. Whites had been leaving

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1166-590: The black poor. Until 1937, all public housing in the United States was under the control of the PWA's Housing Division. With the passing of the Wagner-Steagall Act , this was moved to the newly created United States Housing Authority (USHA) under the Department of the Interior . At the same time, most of the administration was decentralized to local housing authorities. In 1938, Atlanta's Board of Aldermen created

1219-485: The budget for the Urban Renewal Program from $ 250 million to $ 175 million for the 1958 fiscal year, however following protests from city mayors across the country, Congress ultimately chose to increase the budget to $ 350 million. As of June 1966, projects which had gained approval had clearance intended or completed for over 400,000 houses, displacing over 300,000 families. Within the clearance areas, 35%

1272-504: The city as an official neighborhood of Atlanta . Site of former Carver Homes in southeast Atlanta, west of South Atlanta and east of Joyland and High Point . Recognized by the city as an official neighborhood of Atlanta . Site of former John Hope Homes. Recognized by the city as an official neighborhood of Atlanta . Despite the name, this community is not in Castleberry Hill and lies south of that neighborhood. Site of

1325-588: The city or became homeless. In 2011, the AHA also tore down the Roosevelt House and Palmer House senior-citizen high-rises and relocated residents into other properties. However, the John O. Chiles and Cosby Spear senior citizen high rises remained open. As AHA began to systematically close and demolish the projects, a number of issues arose. In 2004, AHA required all adults without diagnosed disabilities between 18 and 61 to be employed or successfully participating in job training or some other educational assistance. By 2007, nearly all able-bodied adults living in

1378-453: The construction of public housing continued until 1956. By the end of that year, 516.8 acres of slums had been cleared and a total of 12 housing projects had been constructed. Excluding Harris Homes , which was completed in 1956, Atlanta's public housing was home to over 27,000 people (it was built for 25,000). The AHA announced that Harris Homes would be its "last low-rent project", as it was redirecting its efforts to urban redevelopment, which

1431-434: The country, and in 1935 FDR gave a speech to dedicate the project. Following Techwood Homes, Atlanta's second housing project would be University Homes, intended for African-Americans and built over the demolished Beaver Slide. Even more so than with Techwood, this inhabitants of this project represented a sharp increase in income for the area. While the previous community was made of mostly unskilled laborers, University Homes

1484-555: The domestic policy agenda, including the eradication of slums. Congress in 1949 approved the Housing and Home Finance Agency to offer local assistance with renewal projects with grants between 66 and 75% of the project cost. In some cities, slums were cleared solely for aesthetic reasons with little regard for those displaced. Despite 6.5 million new housing units built between 1945 and 1952, some cities saw an expansion in slum areas. While slum clearance did not feature prominently during

1537-574: The early 1930s. Charles Palmer , an conservative real estate developer, became concerned with the threat to property values posed by shantytowns so close to downtown. Similar concerns were being expressed among the African-American elite, who disliked the physical proximity of Atlanta University to the slum known as Beaver Slide . Palmer embarked on several tours of European countries to examine their public housing programs, and heavily lobbied Washington to begin constructing public housing in

1590-510: The early period of the AHA's existence, public housing was closely connected with slum clearance. This was especially emphasized by US Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes , who saw slum clearance as a positive good in itself, regardless of whether the units were replaced with public housing. Nonetheless, at the time it was taken for granted that replacement housing had to be built. In addition, public housing during this period

1643-471: The end of 2017, the AHA was serving 23,180 households. These were classified into five groups: In 2016, it was found that Atlanta Housing Authority's publicly paid executives evaded federal rules capping pay at $ 158,700 by supplementing their salaries with money from the nonprofit National Housing Compliance, which receives money from a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer low-income housing. Slum clearance in

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1696-479: The first HOPE VI grant to renovate and modernize Techwood and Clark Howell Homes. At first, the idea of replacing public housing with mixed-income housing was not considered, and the entire project was to remain public housing. The Integral Group and McCormack Baron Salazar together won the contract in 1994 to demolish Techwood and build its replacement, Centennial Place . By the opening of the 1996 Olympics Techwood had been demolished, although visitors were able to tour

1749-592: The former East Lake Meadows . The redevelopment was driven by developer and philanthropist Tom Cousins . Recognized by the city as an official neighborhood of Atlanta . An official neighborhood of Atlanta . Site of former Perry Homes, which were demolished in 1999. Includes While Palmer and Roosevelt were razed, these senior citizen highrises were renovated: On North Avenue in the Old Fourth Ward Located at 435 Joseph E. Lowery Blvd. Renovated 2008 . Atlanta Housing Authority The AHA

1802-672: The lack of attention given to the potential of regenerating existing structures deemed to be dilapidated . Some slums may have been viable for inexpensively cleaning up through use of stricter safety and sanitation enforcement. In the mid 20th century, a housing court was established in Baltimore with the power to impose penalties for violations of agreed codes of practice, which in turn helped to regenerate around 16,000 slum properties. The Housing Act of 1949 offered federal subsidies to local redevelopment projects, allowing local agencies to clear and sell blighted land for redevelopment, up to

1855-497: The late 19th century were successful in razing the Mulberry Bend area, then deemed to be one of the most blighted sections of the neighborhood. Mar Vista Gardens is a housing project completed in 1954 built on an abandoned celery field. Construction paused in the early 1950s when a 6.4 acre strip of land was discovered to be county territory and was annexed in 1952 as part of slum clearance measures. Manhattanville Houses

1908-450: The maximum amount could have cost in excess of $ 12 billion. The act was hindered by defensive priorities, with clearance grants deferred if the project was not consistent with defense requirements. Clearance of slum and blighted areas could be justified as serving the defensive effort as these areas were considered the most vulnerable in the event of enemy attack. In 1951, 32 cities and towns surveyed indicated that much of their cleared land

1961-436: The old community had been racially mixed, whereas the new public housing project was all white. This set a precedent of public housing in Atlanta being used to shape the racial and economic composition of communities in areas of interest to the elite. Not only was Techwood Homes the first public housing project in Atlanta, it was also the first permanent public housing project in the United States. It received recognition across

2014-479: The poorest of the poor. After its creation in 1938, the AHA immediately began petitioning Washington for funds to construct new housing. During the three years preceding the war, six new housing projects would be completed. For whites, there was Capitol Homes and Clark Howell Homes. For African Americans, the AHA built Herndon Homes, John Hope Homes, John Egan Homes, and Harris Homes. This amounted to 4,000 housing units accommodating 20,000 people. The total investment

2067-627: The primary reason for government intervention. In 1949, the Senate Banking and Currency Committee stated in its report that 1 in 5 urban families lived in slum conditions. Federal law required cities to relocate displaced residents in safe and sanitary permanent residences prior to demolition of their slum home, with priority for available public housing. A report in 1950 suggested that over 6 million dwellings, representing around 20% of all city housing, did not meet minimum sanitation standards. Following World War II , housing issues became top of

2120-460: The projects and the city already, but integration prompted virtually all remaining whites to leave the projects. Other projects continued to be built into the 1970s, as well as several high-rises for senior citizens, but after 1973 construction mostly ceased. By 1973, the political consensus that had supported public housing in Atlanta had broken down. Criticism from the left, such as from the underground newspaper The Great Speckled Bird , focused on

2173-473: The remaining housing projects were compliant. In 2008, residents of Bowen Homes and others expressed concern that AHA was not finding homes for their relocation prior to demolition of the 3,000 families living in the complex. According to research done the conversion to vouchers was concentrating the displaced residents by race and income in violation of the Fair Housing Act , prompting a filing of

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2226-442: The shoddy construction of recent projects, and the lack of funding for basic maintenance. The "moderate" coalition of businessmen and wealthy elites that dominated Atlanta politics had realized that they could continue slum clearance and urban renewal without needing to build adequate replacement housing. And when Maynard Jackson , Atlanta's first black mayor, was elected by a coalition between blacks and progressive whites, he went on

2279-502: The vouchers. When Bowen Homes was demolished in 2011, Atlanta became the first American city to demolish all of its family public housing . However, only a small fraction of the units demolished were actually replaced with units in mixed-income communities. This was in part because those units were never planned for construction, in part because the 2008 crash led the AHA to cancel rebuilding plans. And because Atlanta landlords are not required to accept housing vouchers, many presumably left

2332-585: Was $ 21 million to that point. City historian Franklin Garrett remarked humorously, "By 1940, federal funds have built considerably more housing in Atlanta than Federal representative William T. Sherman destroyed here in 1864", referring to the Union general who ordered the burning of Atlanta . With the onset of the war, Atlanta (unlike other cities) paused the construction of new public housing. The next complex would not be erected until 1951. Slum clearance and

2385-478: Was adopted by the HOPE VI program on a national level. From 1996 until 2011, Atlanta continued the process of tearing down the complexes, taking advantage of relaxed federal rules in effect through 2010. The agency offered residents who qualified a variety of relocation options and long-term assistance that included federal rent-assistance vouchers good anywhere in the country. However, not all residents qualified for

2438-437: Was founded in 1938, taking over from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Due to the lobbying of Charles Palmer , an Atlantan real estate developer, Atlanta had been the site of the first public housing project in the country in 1936, Techwood Homes . Early public housing projects such as Techwood and its sister project, University Homes, were built for working-class families on the sites of former slums. Charles Palmer became

2491-415: Was home to the black middle class, or even the upper middle class. While touted by John Hope (President of Atlanta University) and other black elites as a victory for the black community, it was emblematic of the desire of those same elites to separate themselves from the black poor. It also represented part of the serious disconnect between the goals of the black elites and middle class and the interests of

2544-604: Was proposed for residential redevelopment while just over a quarter was reserved for streets and footpaths. Although initially starting with wide political support, it became controversial over time. Federally subsidized clearances ended in 1974, after funding over 2,000 renewal projects at a cost of around $ 50 billion. Proposals for slum clearance came as early as the 1820s in relation to the Five Points neighborhood in Lower Manhattan , New York City. Efforts towards

2597-450: Was seen as a tool for shaping the working class into model citizens. In Atlanta as elsewhere, tenants were carefully chosen in order to conform to middle-class values (for example, no unwed mothers). This created communities that were largely homogeneous, mostly consisting of young married couples with children. Only in the postwar era would public housing begin to serve lower-class families, and only gradually would it become associated with

2650-462: Was seen as necessarily tied with public housing, despite the fact that public housing was not intended for habitation by the poor. Rather, public housing was meant to be a temporary aid to middle- or working-class families hurt by the depression. Thus, when the Techwood Homes public housing project was completed in 1936, few residents of the former slum were able to move back in. Furthermore,

2703-500: Was the only place where development occurred under the act. In 1933, the act was replaced with the National Industrial Recovery Act which focused on slum clearance and home construction for low-income families and produced nearly 60 projects that built around 24,500 new houses. The first federal slum clearance program was proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, citing the high cost of land as

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2756-589: Was to be reused for private residential developments, with some public housing also included. Some slum clearance projects suffered delays as a result of local resident hostility towards clearance and forced migration. In some neighborhoods, foreign-born and minority ethnic residents occupied some of the worst city center housing, yet they feared moving away from their own language and cultural groups. African Americans in particular felt strongly that their areas and houses were targeted for urban renewal through means of ethnic cleansing and that they would be classed as

2809-464: Was to replace public housing. This shift represented the decoupling of slum clearance (or urban renewal) from public housing. It was no longer seen as a necessity to replace cleared neighborhoods with new units. From 1956 to 1966, highway construction and other urban renewal projects would displace almost 67,000—mostly black—people. Only 11% of those displaced would be rehoused in public housing. The final phase of housing construction began in 1962 with

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