When the program began in the 1930s and well into the 1940s it was not identified with black people per se. It was only in the 1950s and then into the 1960s when you saw a significant shift in the demographics of public housing. The economic expansion in the post-war era started to open up different housing opportunities for working class and lower income households. As whites moved out of public housing public housing represented the best housing option for many blacks living in central cities all around the country.