In 1949 the urban renewal act was passed by congress. The idea behind it is that there was a significant obstacle to reinvestment in the cities. Public housing or rather the urban renewal program would subsidize that clearance and provide the private sector with a kind of clean slate on the landscape.
Featuring Edward Goetz on his book New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy. Goetz tells the story of American public housing and then its destruction and dismantling, which took off in the 1980s and accelerated during the 90s under the Clinton Administration’s Hope VI program.
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Check out Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire haymarketbooks.org/books/1861-light-in-gaza