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Techwood Homes, late 1930s

The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) is organized under Georgia law to develop, acquire, lease and operate affordable housing for low-income families. Today, AHA is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, serving approximately 50,000 people.[1]

All of the old-style public housing projects were demolished by 2011. AHA now has six primary ways of helping people with housing needs:[2] In 2011, the AHA served 21,267 households, of which:

  • 9,907 were provided with housing vouchers (replacement for the old Section 8 system)
  • 4,581 were housed in AHA-sponsored MICs
  • 4,537 in AHA-PBRA "mixed income developments"
  • more than 3,000 market-rate rentals and houses were offered
  • 1,953 lived in one of the nine senior citizen high rises or two other small properties that it owns
  • 289 were assisted with home ownership

History

Background

Housing for the poor in early 20th century Atlanta: Tanyard Bottom a.k.a. Tech Flats, site of Centennial Place today

The movement to construct public housing in Atlanta began during 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.[3] 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.[4] Palmer embarked on several tours of European countries to examine their public housing programs, and heavily lobbied Washington to begin constructing public housing in the United States. [5] Despite his opposition to the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt,[6] 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. [7]

Housing for the poor in early 20th century Atlanta: Beaver Slide near Atlanta University

Techwood Flats was a mixed-race community located between Georgia Tech and downtown Atlanta, housed in buildings that often lacked running water or electricity.[8] Charles Palmer claimed that he selected Techwood Flats specifically because it lay on his commute from northwest Atlanta into downtown.[9] At this point in time, slum clearance 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.[10] Furthermore, 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.[11] It received recognition across the country, and in 1935 FDR gave a speech to dedicate the project. [12] 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 was home to the black middle class, or even the upper middle class.[13] 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 the black poor.[14]

Family in Techwood Homes apartment, late 1930s

Founding and Prewar Era

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 Atlanta, the Atlanta Housing Authority was created. Charles Palmer was elected its first chairman in 1938, and would serve in that position until 1940.[15]

Throughout the early period of the AHA's existence, public housing was closely connected with slum clearance. This was especially emphasized by 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.[16] Nonetheless, at the time it was taken for granted that replacement housing had to be built. In addition, public housing during this period 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).[17] This created communities that were largely homogeneous, mostly consisting of young married couples with children.[18]

After Techwood and University Homes, construction on new public housing sped up considerably. In 1940, four new projects were completed: Capitol Homes (white), Clark Howell Homes (white), Herndon Homes (black), and John Hope Homes (black).[19] This amounted to 4,000 housing units accommodating 20,000 people.[20] The total investment 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.[21]

Postwar Era

Slum clearance and 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.[22] 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 was to replace public housing.[22] 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.[23] Only 11% of those displaced would be rehoused in public housing.[24]

The second phase of housing construction began in 1962 with 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, this projects were larger and of lower quality than those built before 1956.[25][26] The projects were some of the last public facilities to be desegregated; this occurred only in 1968. Whites had been leaving the projects and the city already, but integration prompted virtually all remaining whites to leave the projects.[24] Other projects continued to be built into the 1970s, as well as several high-rises for senior citizens, but after 1973 construction mostly ceased.

1970s to 1996 Olympics

Roosevelt House demolition, 2011

By the 1990s, the AHA was corrupt and inefficient, with its projects badly lacking maintenance, so much so that public housing section of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development named the AHA one of the worst housing authorities in the nation.[24]

The new model: MICs

Main article: Atlanta mixed-income communities

In 1996, 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.[1]

The first of these, Centennial Place, has been 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, a child-care facility and retail shops. There were plans to include homeownership units.[27]

In 2011, the agency also tore down the Roosevelt House and Palmer House senior-citizen high-rises and relocated residents into other properties.[28] However, the John O. Chiles and Cosby Spear senior citizen high rises remained open.[27]

AHA took advantage of relaxed federal rules in effect through 2010 to raze all remaining communities. 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.[29] However, not all residents qualified for the vouchers.

Issues during the wind-down phase

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 the remaining housing projects were compliant.[30]

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 a fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).[31] HUD was charged with approving the applications for demolitions.

Outcome

In 2011 the last public housing project, Bowen Homes was fully razed and Atlanta became the first major American city to completely do away with its public housing projects.

Controversies

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.[32]

List of public housing projects and mixed-income communities

See Atlanta mixed-income communities and Demolished public housing projects in Atlanta

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "AHA Web site". 2003-10-07. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "AHA 2011 annual report" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  3. ^ Schank, Katie. Producing the Projects: Atlanta and the Cultural Creation of Public Housing, 1933-2011. Proquest LLC, 2016. Proquest.
  4. ^ Ferguson, Karen. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  5. ^ name=asf>Charles Forrest Palmer, Adventures of a Slum Fighter
  6. ^ Schank, Katie. Producing the Projects: Atlanta and the Cultural Creation of Public Housing, 1933-2011. Proquest LLC, 2016. Proquest.
  7. ^ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/techwood-homes
  8. ^ Ferguson, Karen. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  9. ^ name=asf>Charles Forrest Palmer, Adventures of a Slum Fighter
  10. ^ Ferguson, Karen. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  11. ^ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/techwood-homes
  12. ^ “Roosevelt Lists Achievements And Tells Aims in Speech Here.” The Atlanta Constitution, 29 Nov. 1935, p. 2. University of South Carolina Government Documents.
  13. ^ Ferguson, Karen. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  14. ^ Ferguson, Karen. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  15. ^ Schank, Katie. Producing the Projects: Atlanta and the Cultural Creation of Public Housing, 1933-2011. Proquest LLC, 2016. Proquest.
  16. ^ Ferguson, Karen. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  17. ^ Williams, Rhonda. The Politics of Public Housing: Black Women’s Struggle Against Urban Inequality. Oxford University Press, 2004.
  18. ^ Roescher, Waldo. Oral History Interview of Waldo Roescher, Clip 1 of 1. Interview by Clifford Kuhn, 31 Oct. 1978, http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/LAohr/id/209. Digital Resources of the Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center, Living Atlanta Oral History Recordings.
  19. ^ Schank, Katie. Producing the Projects: Atlanta and the Cultural Creation of Public Housing, 1933-2011. Proquest LLC, 2016. Proquest.
  20. ^ https://atlantaspastrevisited.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/atlanta-housing-projects-gone-but-never-forgotten-the-story-of-the-atlanta-housing-projects-1936-2011/
  21. ^ "Franklin Garrett, Atlanta and Environs, p.34". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  22. ^ a b "Franklin Garrett, Atlanta and Environs, p.239-240". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  23. ^ ""Atlanta", New Georgia Encyclopedia". Georgiaencyclopedia.org. 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  24. ^ a b c "Harvey K. Newman, The Atlanta Housing Authority's Olympic Legacy Program: Public Housing Projects To Mixed Income Communities, Research Atlanta, Inc" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-30. Retrieved 2013-02-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  25. ^ http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/GSB/id/7896/rec/1
  26. ^ https://www.atlantastudies.org/2017/03/16/whats-in-a-name-east-lake-meadows-and-little-vietnam/
  27. ^ a b "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". 2007-04-29. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ "Ariel Hart, "Atlanta building - and old public housing model - demolished", 'Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 27, 2011". Ajc.com. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  29. ^ "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  30. ^ "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". 2007-05-14. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  31. ^ "Atlanta Housing Demolition Sparks Outcry". 2008-03-10. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  32. ^ "Atlanta housing agency skirts salary cap for top execs". myajc.com. 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2016-11-22.

Further reading

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