US public housing in the 1930s: The first projects in Atlanta,Georgia

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, European philanthropists, industrialists, and governments built homes and communities aimed at improving the health and welfare of low and middle income workers. By 1930, the United States remained the only developed country in the Western world without a national legislative and financial commitment to housing. This paper explores the attitudes and circumstances affecting the creation of American public housing in the 1930s and examines the federal government's first attempts at replacing slums with subsidized apartments in the Techwood and University Homes projects in Atlanta, Georgia.