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Fouling Things Up JANELLE TAYLOR JUNE 14, 2015 PROFESSOR FERMIN SOCIOLOGY 4540 D RACE & ETHNIC MINORITIES

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Public Housing is a federal, state and locally funded Endeavor by the United States for low income families. Despite there being historical dates of certain laws Being enacted to aid households in the United States, Housing projects have been a method since civilization b began. It is apparent however, that in the United States, low-income subsidized housing had well Intentions but history would prove that the conditions created a centralized concentration of poverty and crime among the frail and under established minority Households in this country. Historically FDR began what we know today as public Housing. Under the New Deal Title II, Section 202 of the NRA of 1933 the government would attempt to foot The bill for solving the housing dilemma of its most desperate citizens.

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Originally the housing projects were built with strict construction guidelines. More than just the predominant races we associate the projects with today, resided in these units. A wider range of Americans with not so low income lived in these units. However after structural issues were neglected, living conditions worsened and crime became a norm in these areas did the stigma of public housing or housing projects become permanently a reference to low-income minorities. The Housing Act of 1968 was a landmark in the issue wherein the government deemed it unsuitable for high rise buildings to be constructed to house families with children. It would be legislation such as this that would eventually lead to FHA mortgage loans to include more risky loans to provide an alternative to establish housing for lower income families.

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Today Section 8 which was designed to allow private sector investors to build homes for low-income residents with a supplemented voucher for monthly rent is an increasing trend. A shift has been made to invest in not only better looking housing projects but to disperse these residents in areas to pay rent with vouchers in neighborhoods they otherwise could not afford. The foul up in this matter is that we have to ask the question did public housing help America? Did it lessen our homelessness rate? Did it increase crime? Did it perpetuate a ghetto mentality among its youth? Did it hurt our economy? Is there a realistic solution or alternative if it is done away with? Crime has definitely increased in areas where projects were built to house low-income households. I do not believe that it enhanced living conditions but rather worsened the quality of life for those who could not afford more for themselves. The concept was helpful but the neglect of the structures and a plan to promote people from these conditions were never a consistent part of the implementation to house low-income families.