THE PUBLIC HOUSING DEBATE CONTENTS: Introduction Does Texas need public housing? Problems facing public housing The past: Beginnings of public housing Public Works Administration builds public housing Housing Act of 1937 Public housing in Texas Special interest, race and local control Solutions to fix public housing Postscript: Allen Parkway Village today For more information TxLIHIS' work in public housing copyright 1998 Texas Low Income Housing Information Service

Introduction About this site More than one million Texans have found a home in public housing since the mid-1930's. Today there are more than 66,000 public housing units in Texas. Because of the controversial nature of public housing and the myriad of problems that public housing faces, the future of public housing is in doubt. The Texas Low Income Housing Information Service sent staff all across Texas to interview residents of public housing and housing experts to find out the truth about public housing. In the course of the project we discovered that the roots of the major problems facing public housing today lie in its past. We have scoured libraries and archives in Texas and Washington to document the historical background of public housing. While this site focuses on public housing in Texas, we believe that many of the conditions and issues we discuss here are applicable to other states as well. This site is quite large and tells a story in sequential order. The index in the left column can be used to jump to an area of interest. The section you are viewing will be highlighted in green type in the index as a reference. You are encouraged to view the site from the beginning to the end in the sequence it was developed. Use the navigation icons at the bottom of each page to move through the site in the proper order. Viewing the movies This site makes extensive use of contemporary and archival photographs to tell the story of public housing. We also use Quicktime technology. The interviews with public housing residents and housing experts on the various pages of the site can either be read, or better yet watched and heard on Quicktime. To view a Quicktime movie you must have a Power Macintosh or a Pentium 486 or better. If you do not have either of these computers or browsers you can read the text of the interviews, but you cannot watch the interviews on video. You also must be using Netscape 3.0 or newer or Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 or newer. Finally, your browser must have a Quicktime plug-in installed. If you are using Internet Explorer 4.0 the plug-in will be loaded for you automatically when you click on a movie. To download the free Quicktime plug-in click on the Get Quicktime banner below. We are interested in your reactions pro or con to the site as well as your comments and observations. Please e-mail us at info@texashousing.org or better yet post your comments to our Public and Assisted Housing Discussion Forum. Visit our web site www.texashousing.org Does Texas need public housing?