Rebuilding Harlem: Public housing and urban renewal, 1920

Rebuilding Harlem: Public housing and urban renewal, 1920–1960

Metzger, John T.

This article analyzes the history of public housing and urban renewal planning in the Harlem district of New York, from the crisis and private reform initiatives of the 1920s and 30s, and the construction of the first government project, Harlem River Houses, to the redevelopment program of Robert Moses, and the subsequent decline of community support. The impact of public housing and urban renewal on social and economic conditions in Harlem is examined and compared to the experience of other inner‐city areas in the United States. Public housing in Harlem provided new and modern dwelling units for a low‐income and working class African‐American population that was constrained in its housing options due to discrimination. But public housing ultimately contributed to the growing isolation of an immobile and impoverished “underclass” that lacked the skills and support services to adapt and prosper in New York's changing postwar economy. In a national perspective, the case of New York and Harlem is important for understanding the involvement of labour unions and African‐Americans in public housing and urban renewal, and for examining the relationship between public housing and larger economic and real estate goals.