Fouling Things Up JANELLE TAYLOR JUNE 14, 2015 PROFESSOR FERMIN
SOCIOLOGY 4540 D RACE & ETHNIC MINORITIES
Slide 3
Public Housing is a federal, state and locally funded Endeavor
by the United States for low income families. Despite there being
historical dates of certain laws Being enacted to aid households in
the United States, Housing projects have been a method since
civilization b began. It is apparent however, that in the United
States, low-income subsidized housing had well Intentions but
history would prove that the conditions created a centralized
concentration of poverty and crime among the frail and under
established minority Households in this country. Historically FDR
began what we know today as public Housing. Under the New Deal
Title II, Section 202 of the NRA of 1933 the government would
attempt to foot The bill for solving the housing dilemma of its
most desperate citizens.
Slide 4
Originally the housing projects were built with strict
construction guidelines. More than just the predominant races we
associate the projects with today, resided in these units. A wider
range of Americans with not so low income lived in these units.
However after structural issues were neglected, living conditions
worsened and crime became a norm in these areas did the stigma of
public housing or housing projects become permanently a reference
to low-income minorities. The Housing Act of 1968 was a landmark in
the issue wherein the government deemed it unsuitable for high rise
buildings to be constructed to house families with children. It
would be legislation such as this that would eventually lead to FHA
mortgage loans to include more risky loans to provide an
alternative to establish housing for lower income families.
Slide 5
Today Section 8 which was designed to allow private sector
investors to build homes for low-income residents with a
supplemented voucher for monthly rent is an increasing trend. A
shift has been made to invest in not only better looking housing
projects but to disperse these residents in areas to pay rent with
vouchers in neighborhoods they otherwise could not afford. The foul
up in this matter is that we have to ask the question did public
housing help America? Did it lessen our homelessness rate? Did it
increase crime? Did it perpetuate a ghetto mentality among its
youth? Did it hurt our economy? Is there a realistic solution or
alternative if it is done away with? Crime has definitely increased
in areas where projects were built to house low-income households.
I do not believe that it enhanced living conditions but rather
worsened the quality of life for those who could not afford more
for themselves. The concept was helpful but the neglect of the
structures and a plan to promote people from these conditions were
never a consistent part of the implementation to house low-income
families.