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

Problems facing public housing The physical problems facing public housing As Congress cuts the funds to operate and maintain public housing, older projects in a number of Texas cities are literally on the verge of falling apart. A number of older public housing developments face critical needs for comprehensive modernization. Yet with the low rents that public housing authorities collect from their low-income tenants, there are not sufficient revenues to fund the rehabilitation. The Chalmers Courts public housing development in Austin is an example of this problem. For each of the past two years the Austin Housing Authority has applied to HUD for funds to rebuild the Chalmers Courts development and each year has been turned down due the proposal due to a lack of sufficient funding in the HUD budget. Chalmers Courts, was was comleted in 1939, is located less than one mile east of downtown Austin. The project contains 158 one to four bedroom apartments in thirty, one and two story concrete buildings. The buildings have concrete floors and ceilings and masonry interior walls. The apartments have very little storage space, small kitchens and bathrooms. Electrical systems are under capacity. Given the concrete and masonry construction of the buildings, the apartments retain heat during the summer and residents find the electric systems cannot reliably support the current necessary to operate a window air conditioner, making Austin summers unbearable for the residents. Sewer and site drainage do not meet code. Repairs to plumbing, heating and electric systems are difficult to impossible due to these systems being embedded in the concrete floors, ceilings and masonry walls. Lead-based paint is present in the units as is asbestos in the floor tile, sinks and wall texture. These apartments, built with extremely durable materials, have survived with a minimum of repairs for almost 60 years. Their design provides a rather cramped, uncomfortable and outdated apartment which cannot be cooled during the summer. Maintenance costs are extremely high and repairs of major systems such as heating, plumbing and electrical and virtually impossible. There are 342 residents of Chalmers Courts. Fifty-five percent of the residents are under 21 and 15% are over 62 years old. Less than twenty percent of the families have an income of $10,000 per year or more. Given that the housing authority can charge a family 33% their adjusted gross income for rent, there is very little rent money available for maintenance or modernization.   The historical problems facing public housing