How Did Public Housing Survive the 1950s?

Abstract

Within two years of the triumphal, if belated, passage of the 1949 Housing Act, America's public housing program was on the defensive, reeling from an onslaught of local opposition. Progressives had hoped to build 135,000 units of public housing a year, but were soon met with a furious backlash. Afraid of government competition, the National Association of Home Builders and the U.S. Savings and Loan League mobilized local opposition by sending out “kits” to their members with prepackaged ads for local newspapers reading “Canyouafford to pay somebody else's rent?” The result was an avalanche of local referenda, and voters across the country blocked new construction. In California, Proposition 10 made all new projects contingent on local referenda, and Los Angeles voters threw out their mayor over his support for public housing. In other cities, such as Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia, race played a major role in thwarting local housing authority plans. Despite a massive postwar housing shortage and a well-argued set of progressive ideals, public housing supporters struggled to keep their program alive in the early 1950s. The election of 1952—with Republicans capturing the presidency, the House, and the Senate for the first time since 1930—meant the prospects for the survival of public housing looked bleak at best.