Decent, Safe and Sanitary Dwellings

In 1973, President Nixon halted new construction of public housing, claiming that the U.S. government had become "e;the biggest slumlord in history."e; Four decades earlier, in the depths of the Great Depression, strong political support for federally-subsidized low-income housing had resulted in the Housing Act of 1937. By the 1950s, growing criticism of the housing constructed by local authorities and prejudice against poor residents--particularly African Americans--fueled opposition to new projects. This book documents the lively and wide-ranging national debate over public housing from the New Deal to Nixon.