A history of affordable housing and progression in New York City

During the 1930’s after the depression and at a time of segregated communities, many poor and low- income families lived in slums that were filthy and unhealthy. There was also education and social dysfunction and housing policies that were not focused on “affordability” at the time.  To address this issue and intervene, the United States government created a legislature called The United States Housing Act of 1937 which allows the government to pay monies to local government agencies to provide housing and public health in order to improve living conditions to low- income families.

Although some improvements have been made, the laws were not significantly effective due to the private housing market that could not provide decent housing and charge rental prices that low-income families could afford. What was considered affordable during this time was 20% of the household income but still most families could not afford it. Another significant major problem was poor management. “Too little attention has been paid to management deficiency as the principal factor in this widespread failure. Dedicated housing advocates rarely prospered at Americas mismanaged, patronage ridden, big city housing authorities. Where patronage was not rampant, housing administrators often lacked the necessary skills and staff to manage multi-family housing” (Bloom, Intro).

It is with continual government and social policies that have progressively brought about housing reforms. With the help of wealthy NY philanthropists and architects and the creation of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), housing projects, skyscrapers and complexes were built. Projects such as the Cobble Hills Buildings or Tower Buildings and Williamsburg Houses were constructed. They included more spacious and divided rooms, better lighting, safe and healthy conditions and fire safety regulations that began as the first apartments for tenant living. “Public housing projects represented optimism and ambition, a sort of “brave new world” of modern architecture and the progressive era” (Noko). As progress continues, the issues with affordability continues. Public housing programs have been created and need to expand to assist low and middle income families.

Work Cited

McDonald, John F. “Public housing construction and the cities: 1937-1967.” www.hindawi.com.

10 August 2011. Copyright 2011 John F. McDonald. Web. 5 November 2017

Bloom, Nicholas Dagen. Public housing that worked: New York in the twentieth century.

Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2008. Print

Nonko, Emily. “Tracing the history of affordable housing in New York City.” www.nycurbed.com.

18 September 2015. 2017 Vox Media, Inc. Web. 6 November 2017