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

The past: PWA builds housing Opposition to public housing emerges The work of the Public Works Administration (PWA) was hampered as developers, aided by local politicians, tried to unload worthless land on the agency for high prices. The program also suffered heavy attacks from those who opposed government's involvement in housing, specifically the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Retail Lumber Dealers, the National Association of Real Estate Boards, and the US Building and Loan League. The PWA acquired land, let contracts for construction, and operated the housing projects. But the use of federal condemnation powers to acquire land for slum clearance and sites for the public housing came under attack in the federal courts. The courts ruled in favor of the real estate and home building industry finding that the federal government could not, on its own, legally buy land and build public housing. But the courts held that slum clearance and low-income housing could be provided by local agencies acting through state legislation. Opposition to public housing came from organized business interests which saw it as government competition with private enterprise. Houston Federal Courthouse, circa 1930. (photo: Houston Public Library) The United States Housing Act of 1937