Queensbridge Park , named for the nearby Queensboro Bridge , is a 20.34-acre (8.23 ha) city park along the East River in Long Island City , Queens , New York City . The park is a primary place of recreation for residents of Queensbridge Houses and has a riverfront promenade, baseball diamonds, running paths, lawns and areas for picnicking.
72-668: Queensbridge Houses , also known simply as Queensbridge or QB , is a public housing development in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens , New York City . Owned by the New York City Housing Authority , the development contains 96 buildings and 3,142 units accommodating approximately 7,000 people in two separate complexes (North and South). The complex opened in 1939 and is the largest housing project in North America . Queensbridge
144-415: A Barriada or a Caserío (and more recently a Residencial Publico ), where all exterior grounds are shared areas. Increasingly, however, public housing developments are being built that consist of other than the traditional multi-family dwellings with all exterior grounds consisting of shared outside area, for example, public housing may consist of single family garden apartments units. Finally,
216-474: A cafeteria upstairs where the playschool children ate their lunches. Some of the downstairs activities included tap dancing, ballet, art, playing the recorder and singing, pool, knock hockey and table tennis, as well as Girl Scout and Boy Scout meetings. Residents enjoyed concerts during the hot summer months in the square central shopping area, and the Fresh Air Fund sent children on trips out to
288-538: A combination thereof. The details, terminology, definitions of poverty , and other criteria for allocation may vary within different contexts, but the right to rent such a home is generally rationed through some form of means-testing or through administrative measures of housing needs. One can regard social housing as a potential remedy for housing inequality . Within the OECD , social housing represents an average of 7% of national housing stock (2020), ranging from ~34% in
360-568: A condominium is a housing unit located in a high-rise building. It is popularly called an apartamento (English: 'apartment'), whether or not its resident owns the unit or lives in it as a renter.) Public housing, on the other hand, are housing units built with government funding, primarily through programs of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). These have traditionally been multi-family dwellings in housing complexes called
432-467: A home that is located in neither an urbanizacion nor of a public housing development is said to be located in (and to be a part of) a barrio . In Puerto Rico, a barrio also has a second and very different meaning official meaning: the geographical area into which a municipios is divided for official administrative purposes. In this sense, urbanizaciones as well as public housing developments (as well as one or several barrios in
504-529: A move toward the integration of public housing with market housing and other uses. Revitalization plans for properties such as in the notorious Downtown Eastside of Vancouver , Regent Park , in Toronto, and Rochester Heights in Ottawa , aim to provide better accommodations for low-income residents, and connect them to the greater community. The aim of the reconstruction plans are often to better integrate it into
576-641: A new impetus, when the poor physical health and condition of many urban recruits to the British Army was noted with alarm. In 1916, 41% of conscripts were unfit to serve. This led to a campaign known as Homes fit for heroes and in 1919 the Government first compelled councils to provide housing, helping them to do so through the provision of subsidies , under the Housing Act 1919 . Public housing projects were tried out in some European countries and
648-531: A problem with drug dealers and drug users. An 11-month police investigation led to the arrest of 37 people during a drug bust in February 2005. Another raid in February 2009, following a seven-month investigation, resulted in 59 arrests. As of 2013, Queensbridge had a total population of 6,105. The racial breakdown was 61.4% black , 2.3% white , 1.9% Asian , 1.0% American Indian and 2.4% multiracial . Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 30.1%. By 2020,
720-454: A renovation in 1986 when 1,000 of the bathrooms were renovated by Arc Plumbing. The original plans included some basic amenities, like a central shopping center, a nursery and six inner courtyards for play. In the 1950s, there were also three playschool rooms, a library, a community center with an auditorium where shows were put on, a gymnasium with a wooden floor that doubled as a wooden-wheels roller skating rink, activity rooms downstairs, and
792-634: A system that has fallen into disfavour in both the United States and the United Kingdom. However, many public housing corporations still offer a variety of buildings and communities ranging from individual houses to townhouse communities and mid-rise and high-rise apartments in both working-class and middle-class neighborhoods that house a significant number of low-income Canadians. Following the decentralisation of public housing to local municipalities, Social Housing Services Corporation (SHSC)
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#1732793924023864-575: A time when you can buy screwed & chopped albums at Circuit City in Brooklyn , it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that hip-hop was once a local phenomenon. More than just a voice of the ghetto, hip-hop at its best is the voice of specific blocks, capturing the distinct tone and timbre of an artist’s environment. Since the 1980s, New York City’s Queensbridge Housing Project has been documented perhaps better than any other geographic location. Starting with super producer Marley Marl’s dominant Juice Crew in
936-500: A very low price. The size and the type of room the households received were dependent on their job title or administrative level. The central government found it difficult to upkeep the public housing due to the low rent it received; the distribution policy that was intended to be " equalitarianism " was actually corrupt. The Chinese government commercialized the housing market after the economic reform started in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping . The public houses that were constructed before that
1008-492: A voucher, accepted by some landlords. This policy option represented a turn away from the public-sector policy of public housing, instead turning towards the private market to address housing needs. The program, in conjunction with HOPE VI, was intended to create income-integrated communities, by giving residents the choice of where to move . However, the housing voucher program has historically had long wait times and limited choice on where one can actually move . Additionally, it
1080-818: Is located in Queens Community District 1 , and its ZIP Code is 11101. Queensbridge, the largest of 26 public housing developments in Queens, is located between Vernon Boulevard, which runs along the East River , and 21st Street. It is immediately south of the Ravenswood power plant and just north of the Queensboro Bridge , for which the complex is named. The complex is the largest housing project in North America. The development
1152-920: Is one of the major housing policies of the government. Nearly half of Hong Kong's 7.5 million population lives in public housing. The two main public housing providers are the Housing Authority and the Housing Society . The most common types of public housing in Hong Kong are public rental housing (PRH) and subsidised sale flats produced under the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS). In 2016, approximately 31 per cent of Hong Kong households lived in PRH flats while 15 per cent resided in subsidised sale flats (of all types). The origin of large-scale public housing in Hong Kong can be traced to
1224-599: Is separated into two complexes, the North Houses on 40th Avenue and the South Houses on 41st Avenue. The namesake station of the New York City Subway 's IND 63rd Street Line ( F and <F> train) is on the eastern side of the complex on 21st Street. The 96-unit, six-story buildings are distinctive due to their shape of two Y's connecting at the base. This shape was used as
1296-818: Is the 16th-century Fuggerei in Augsburg , Bavaria . The origins of modern municipal housing lie in the dramatic urban population increase caused by the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. In the large cities of the period, many social commentators, such as Octavia Hill and Charles Booth reported on the squalor, sickness and immorality that arose. Henry Mayhew , visiting Bethnal Green , wrote in The Morning Chronicle : ... roads were unmade, often mere alleys, houses small and without foundations, subdivided and often around unpaved courts. An almost total lack of drainage and sewerage
1368-421: Is well known for its contributions to hip hop and rap music, and has been home to some of the most influential musicians in the genre. Marley Marl Williams was the first in a long succession of acclaimed artists from "The Bridge", which came to be one of the most famous hip hop neighborhoods in the country. Its rappers and producers helped to put it on the map. The Juice Crew collective, hugely influential in
1440-676: The Centro Urbano (or Multifamiliar ) Presidente Alemán (1947–50) in the Colonia del Valle and the Centro Urbano (or Multifamiliar ) Benito Juárez (1951–52) in the Colonia Roma , introduced formal ideas from Le Corbusier 's Ville Radieuse into the urban fabric. His later project, the Conjunto Urbano Tlatelolco Nonoalco built in 1960–65, was meant to develop one of
1512-466: The 63rd Street Tunnel , which was completed in 1989, a 60-by-90-foot (18 by 27 m) combined ventilation structure and emergency exit was constructed in the park. In 2014, a large seawall was constructed against the East River to protect against erosion. The project also created a 6 feet (1.8 m) wide promenade which was named for longtime park advocate Elizabeth McQueen. In 2019, the park
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#17327939240231584-628: The Federal Highway Program , demolished the older, substandard housing of communities of color across the United States. However, the advent of makeshift tent communities during the Great Depression caused concern in the Administration. The Federal public housing program was created by the 1937 Act, in which operations were "sustained primarily by tenant rents." As a result, public housing in its earliest decades
1656-786: The Multifamiliar Benito Juárez has been demolished. Mexico has had experience with housing projects since Porfirio Díaz 's regime (1877–1880, 1884–1911). One of those still remains and is the Barrio of Loreto in San Ángel , Álvaro Obregón in Mexico City, that was a project for a paper factory workers. Another notable public housing project is the Conjunto Habitacional Independencia, located near Tizapán neighborhood, on most of
1728-470: The architects hoped it would give residents more access to privacy and sunlight than the traditional cross-shape. The design was said to be cost-efficient, and they reduced the cost even further by using elevators that only stopped at the 1st, 3rd, and 5th floors. Political pressure to keep costs down was a key reason for the use of cheap designs. W.F.R. Ballard, Henry S. Churchill, Frederick G. Frost, and Burnett Turner designed Queensbridge. In many aspects,
1800-659: The resettlement programme launched by the Hong Kong government in the 1950s in response to the increasing prevalence of squatter settlements, which emerged as a result of a great influx of refugees following the Communist revolution in China . The squatter villages were considered unsafe as they were susceptible to disastrous fires, including a 1953 blaze in Shek Kip Mei that rendered over 50,000 people homeless overnight. Large-scale resettlement estates were built throughout
1872-617: The 'one-for-one' rule would make building new housing extremely difficult . The long-term effect of this was that more housing was demolished than built, and many people were displaced without being guaranteed a spot in the new housing that would get built. This led to the widespread displacement and reshuffling of public house residents: namely, low-income, Black, single-parent families . Narratives that public housing projects were full of crime, drugs, and poverty were used to further justify demolition and destruction of public housing. Such associations between crime, surveillance and policing, and
1944-500: The 1950s and 1960s. In 1973, the government of Sir Murray MacLehose launched the Ten-Year Housing Programme, which aimed to provide the entire population with "satisfactory housing" within a decade. The government also launched the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) in 1976 to enable lower-income households to purchase flats. Many public housing estates were built as part of new town development programmes . During
2016-632: The 1980s, featured among its members Queensbridge rappers MC Shan , Roxanne Shanté , Nas and Craig G . While the Boogie Down Productions-MC Shan dispute had already put "The Bridge" on the rap map in the 1980s, the new crop of Queensbridge rappers like Nas and Mobb Deep made frequent references to the Queensbridge Houses that cemented its reputation as a dystopian vision of poverty, drugs, and violence just as New York City's problems with crack cocaine and
2088-604: The 1980s, most of the earliest resettlement estates (from the 1950s and early 1960s) were also rebuilt to modern standards. Public housing remains a key concern of the Hong Kong Government, which plans to construct some 330,000 units between 2022 and 2032. 86.6% of the Indian population lives in own houses . There are various public housing projects by both state and central governments in small scale. Queensbridge Park The New York City government acquired
2160-463: The 1993 HOPE VI project's response was demolition . The federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department's 1993 HOPE VI program addressed concerns of distressed properties and blighted superblocks with revitalization and funding projects for the renewal of public housing to decrease its density and allow for tenants with mixed income levels. The project paired together the demolition of public housing stock and private development, leading to
2232-545: The Asian population in Queensbridge rose to 11% of the development's total population. This prompted calls for better social services for the community's Asian residents. Notes Sources Public housing Public housing , also known as social housing , refers to affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government , central government , nonprofit organizations or
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2304-505: The Brooke Amendment. Rents now became set at 25% of a tenant's income with the result that the program began serving the "poorest tenants." Other attempts to solve these problems include the 1974 Section 8 Housing Program, which encourages the private sector to construct affordable homes, and subsidized public housing. This assistance can be "project-based", subsidizing properties, or "tenant-based", which provides tenants with
2376-602: The Clinton era established, through HUD, the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, which led to the cracking down of public housing, leading to more policing and surveillance for low-income people of color . In the 60s and 70s, the popularization of neoliberalism caused a turn away from public sector solutions towards private or public-private solutions. This, in conjunction with the narrative of public housing being obsolete, led to both
2448-526: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rent units to families with low incomes. Affordable housing goals can also be achieved through subsidies. Subsidized housing is owned and operated by private owners who receive subsidies in exchange for providing affordable housing. Owners may be individual landlords or for-profit or nonprofit corporations. Social housing had existed sporadically prior to modern developments. The oldest still in use
2520-576: The Netherlands to less than 1% in Colombia. In the United States, public housing developments are classified as housing projects that are owned by a housing authority or a low-income (project-based voucher) property. PBV are a component of a public housing agency. PBVs, administered by state and local housing agencies, are distinct from Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), a program through which property owners' contract directly with
2592-1013: The New York City Housing Authority has posted signs indicating the project's name and management: "Queensbridge North (or South) NYCHA." These signs come in several varieties depending on their age. The oldest signs, erected in the early nineties, are simply orange and blue, with the newer signs featuring graphics, like those of many other projects. Access to buildings in the complex is by key or via an intercom system . The halls of Queensbridge's buildings are comparable to most municipal buildings, and are dilapidated and lined with worn light blue tiles. Apartments are painted white and are fairly small, even by New York City standards. Elevators have been rebuilt and now stop at floors 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and kitchens have been completely renovated and now have frost-free refrigerators. Three thousand bathrooms were renovated with new tubs, toilets, vanities, floor tile and lighting in 2000. This followed
2664-540: The Peekskill mountains. The buildings in the complex are divided by a series of paths and small lawns. Also in the complex are several basketball courts and play areas lined with benches. Across Vernon Boulevard lies Queensbridge Park , the primary place of recreation for tenants of the project. There was also a smaller park placed conveniently right under the Queensboro Bridge called "Baby Park". Baby Park
2736-755: The United States in the 1930s, but only became widespread globally after the Second World War . South African apartheid featured high poverty rates in Black South Africans due to racial segregation and discrimination, so the post-apartheid government has sought to build social housing for poor black households, in urban areas with economic opportunity. The Reconstruction and Development and Breaking New Ground programs have provided over 3.5 million houses from 1995 to 2020, but they did not fully meet demand, and were built away from inner urban areas, exacerbating racial divides. The housing shortage
2808-580: The auspices of the Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division of the Federal Works Agency under the direction of Colonel Lawrence Westbrook . These eight projects were purchased by the residents after the Second World War and as of 2009 seven of the projects continue to operate as mutual housing corporations owned by their residents. These projects are among the very few definitive success stories in
2880-407: The buildings of Queensbridge are very similar to most government-built housing projects of the era. They are a worn grayish brown which now suffers noticeable deterioration and weathering. Each building is painted red to about four feet up from the ground, giving a united feel to the entire complex as a uniform red "layer" is always close, throughout the complex. On each of the corners in Queensbridge,
2952-431: The displacement of many residents. One of the biggest components of this was the repealing of the "one-for-one" replacement rule, which said that for every unit of housing destroyed a new one must be built . HOPE VI's reasoning for repealing this policy was that it was hindering the construction of new, mixed-income units: since the public housing buildings were so massive, those behind HOPE VI believed that trying to match
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3024-622: The economic reforms were categorized as "Old Public Houses" ( Chinese : 老公房 ). "Old Public Houses" were, in principle, not supposed to be privately sold, but the household could sell it after purchasing the ownership of the building (not the property), and such transactions were subject to be review by local housing authorities and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission . However, an informal filing system and unclear policies resulted in problems of corruption and family dispute. The concept of
3096-537: The end of the Second World War, enriched by US investments and an oil boom , Mexico had its first demographic boom, in which the primary destination for rural immigrants was Mexico City . Mario Pani Darqui , a famous architect at time, was charged to build its first large-scale public housing project. Built for the Dirección de Pensiones Civiles y Retiro (the National Pensions office, today ISSSTE),
3168-575: The history of the US public housing effort. Public housing was only built with the blessing of the local government, and projects were almost never built on suburban greenfields , but through regeneration of older neighborhoods. The destruction of tenements and eviction of their low-income residents consistently created problems in nearby neighborhoods with "soft" real estate markets. Initiatives in housing policy were implemented in ways that perpetuated stigma against African Americans. Initially, public housing
3240-577: The houses and apartments were sold to the residents. Neighbourhoods in Puerto Rico are often divided into three types: barrio , urbanización (urbanisation) and residencial público (public housing). An urbanización is a type of housing where land is developed into lots, often by a private developer, and where single-family homes are built. More recently, non-single-family units, such as condominiums and townhouses are being built which also fall into this category. (In Puerto Rico,
3312-491: The housing deficit, Minha Casa Minha Vida sought to stimulate the economy by generating employment in the construction sector. According to the Brazilian Chamber of Construction Industry (CBIC), the program created millions of jobs, directly and indirectly, contributing to the country's economic growth during its initial phases. However, critics argue that the program's focus on mass production sometimes overlooked
3384-587: The importance of integrating new housing developments with adequate infrastructure, such as schools , healthcare facilities , and transportation networks , which are essential for fostering sustainable urban development. In Canada, public housing is usually a block of purpose-built subsidized housing operated by a government agency, often simply referred to as community housing, with easier-to-manage townhouses. Many cities in Canada still maintain large high-rise clustered developments in working-class neighborhoods,
3456-561: The land on which Queensbridge Park lies in 1939, the same year the Queensbridge Houses across Vernon Boulevard opened. While New York City Housing Authority had jurisdiction over the land, it was operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation . From the 1950s to the 1970s, the park was known as "River Park", in reference to the East River that runs next to it. During construction for
3528-536: The land that once was the Matsumoto Hacienda. The project was developed during Adolfo López Mateos presidential period, started in 1959 and completed in 1960. The development included an integral design considering landscaping, and premises that could provide basic services to the residents: a clinic, a sports complex, theater, movie theater, a supermarket, a kindergarten, three elementary schools, among others. It functioned as public housing until 1982, when
3600-526: The long list of applicants . The public-owned housing system was established when the Chinese Communist Party started a planned economy in the 1950s as part of its Great Leap Forward . The system was funded by the central government's budget and were administered and distributed by state-owned enterprises . The occupants of the public housing were usually the employees of the enterprises and their family, who were subject to pay rent at
3672-518: The low-cost rental housing can be traced to a 1998 policy statement, but did not truly take off until 2006 due to limited funding and administrative problems. The provision of more affordable housing is one of the key components of China's Twelfth Five-year Plan , which targets the construction of 36 million homes by 2015. That program's costs will be split between the private and public sector and are estimated at five trillion yuan by China International Capital Corporation . In Hong Kong, public housing
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#17327939240233744-483: The narrative that people living in public housing were " Welfare Queens ", or otherwise living in a state of abject poverty and terrible conditions . These demographic changes also decreased support for housing, leading to the government cutting funding for the program . Because of funding cuts and mismanagement by public housing authorities, public housing started to reflect modern associated characteristics of "soul-crushing" buildings or "humanitarian disasters"—to which
3816-503: The poorest parts of the city, Santiago Tlatelolco , which was becoming a slum. Unfortunately, after a while, instead of giving the residences to the previous residents of Tlatelolco , corruption took place and most of the dwellings were handed to state employees. During the earthquake of 1985 , both the Benito Juárez and Nonoalco-Tlaltelolco complexes suffered major damage, with some buildings collapsing. Today most of
3888-431: The popular sense) may be located in one of these 901 official geographic areas. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, government involvement in housing for the poor was chiefly in the introduction of building standards . Atlanta, Georgia 's Techwood Homes , dedicated in 1935, was the nation's first public housing project. Most housing communities were developed from the 1930s onward and initial public housing
3960-554: The population. The project has been criticized for its placement and quality of the houses. Houses are built far from the city centre to reduce housing costs which consequently reduces access to the labor market ; a study of randomly selected houses of the MCMV project in Rio de Janeiro showed a reduced likelihood of being formally employed in job-seekers but income was not affected in those who were already employed. In addition to addressing
4032-617: The program, included within the government Growth Acceleration Program (PAC, Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento ) was announced in March 2010. This stage foresaw the construction of a further two million homes. All funds for Minha Casa Minha Vida properties were provided by the Brazilian public bank, Caixa Econômica Federal . The bank financed development and provided mortgages for qualifying families. As of September 2018 , 4.5 million homes were built and distributed to
4104-467: The projects increased in 1996. Projects continue to have a reputation for violence, drug use, and prostitution, especially in New Orleans , Washington, D.C. Chicago and Detroit , leading to the passage of a 1996 federal " one strike you're out " law, enabling the eviction of tenants convicted of crimes, especially drug-related, or merely as a result of being tried for some crimes. Specifically,
4176-508: The traditional grid of streets, improve leisure and cultural amenities. However, the residents of these communities often have had little effective input in the plans and have had mixed reactions to the construction. In 2014, Vancouver , long considered one of the least affordable cities in the world, changed the definition of social housing to mean rental housing in which a minimum of 30 percent of dwelling units are occupied by households that cannot pay market rents, due to lack of income. At
4248-400: The turn away from public housing and towards subsidized housing solutions. Houses, apartments or other residential units are usually subsidized on a rent-geared-to-income (RGI) basis. Some communities have now embraced a mixed income, with both assisted and market rents, when allocating homes as they become available. A significant change in the program took place in 1969, with the passage of
4320-474: The unprecedented carnage it had brought to places like Queensbridge reached a peak. Nas' 1994 album Illmatic , often regarded as the greatest hip-hop album of all time, concerns his experiences in Queensbridge. Other notable artists associated with the Queensbridge hip hop scene include Blaq Poet , Cormega , Tragedy Khadafi , Nature , Screwball , Capone , and Big Noyd . Regarding the Queensbridge music scene, XXL columnist Brendan Frederick wrote: At
4392-548: The ’80s all the way through ’90s mainstays like Nas, Cormega and Capone, the Bridge has produced the highest per-capita talent of any ’hood. By the 1970s, Queensbridge experienced a rise in crime with the rest of the city. During the height of the crack epidemic in 1986, Queensbridge experienced more murders than any NYCHA complex in New York City. However, in the 2000s, crime went down. For many years Queensbridge has had
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#17327939240234464-571: Was begun in 1890 by the Metropolitan Board of Works and completed by the then-recently formed London County Council in 1900. The success of this project spurred many local councils to embark on similar construction schemes in the early 20th century. The Arts and Crafts movement and Ebenezer Howard 's garden city ideas led to the leafy London County Council cottage estates such as firstly Totterdown Fields and later Wormholt and Old Oak . The First World War indirectly provided
4536-625: Was built in London to replace one of the capital's most notorious slums – the Old Nichol . Nearly 6,000 individuals were crammed into the packed streets, where one child in four died before his or her first birthday. Arthur Morrison wrote the influential A Child of the Jago , an account of the life of a child in the slum, which sparked a public outcry. Construction of the Boundary Estate
4608-732: Was closed due to debris falling from the bridge during maintenance work in the late 2000s. Baby Park was replaced by a new playground for the same age range, between 40th-41st Avenues, within Queensbridge Park itself. Queensbridge opened in 1939. During the 1950s, the management changed the racial balance of Queensbridge by transferring all families whose income was more than $ 3,000/year, a majority of whom were White , to middle-income housing projects, and replacing most of these tenants with African-American and Latino families. This policy provided safe and sanitary housing to many low-income African-American and Latino families. Queensbridge
4680-463: Was created in the Province of Ontario in 2002 to provide group services for social housing providers (public housing, non-profit housing and co-operative housing ). It is a non-profit corporation which provides Ontario housing providers and service managers with bulk purchasing, insurance, investment and information services that add significant value to their operations. Recently, there has been
4752-540: Was estimated to be 3.7 million units in 2021. The Department of Human Settlements, which facilitates national housing development, has sought to transition from a housing-focused development model to a holistic view, including services. Minha Casa Minha Vida ("My House, My Life"), the Brazilian federal government's social housing program, was launched in March 2009 with a budget of R$ 36 billion (US$ 18 billion) to build one million homes. The second stage of
4824-404: Was found that many people of color did not want to move away from their families, communities, and systems of support, as well as experiencing stigma and difficulties with landlords, safety, or expenses . This leads to the program doing little to actually create a more racially-integrated city demographics, mostly reproducing inequality while simultaneously not having enough valid housing units for
4896-681: Was in 1885, after the report from a royal commission in England, that the state first took an interest. This led to the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1885 , which empowered Local Government Boards to shut down unhealthy properties and encouraged them to improve the housing in their areas. The City of London Corporation built tenements in the Farringdon Road in 1865. The world's first large-scale housing project
4968-618: Was intended to be built widespread, and as such be mixed-income, but lobbyists who did not want to see public housing decrease their housing values blocked such housing from going up . These early NIMBY movements limited where public housing was concentrated: predominantly in low-income neighborhoods. With the introduction of suburbs and expansion of choices for the white working class, the demographics of public housing changed from more class and racially integrated to predominantly impoverished, single-parent, welfare, and people of color . This led to stigmatization of public housing, through pushing
5040-405: Was largely slum clearance, with the requirement insisted upon by private builders that for every unit of public housing constructed, a unit of private housing would be demolished. This also eased concerns of the establishment by eliminating or altering neighborhoods commonly considered a source of disease, and reflected progressive-era sanitation initiatives. Moreover, public housing, along with
5112-460: Was made worse by the ponds formed by the excavation of brickearth. Pigs and cows in back yards, noxious trades like boiling tripe, melting tallow, or preparing cat's meat, and slaughter houses, dustheaps, and "lakes of putrefying night soil " added to the filth. Some philanthropists began to provide housing in tenement blocks , and some factory owners built entire villages for their workers, such as Saltaire in 1853 and Port Sunlight in 1888. It
5184-408: Was usually much more working-class and middle-class and white than it was by the 1970s. Many Americans associate large, multi-story towers with public housing, but early projects were actually low-rise, though Le Corbusier superblocks caught on before World War II. A unique US public housing initiative was the development of subsidized middle-class housing during the late New Deal (1940–42) under
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