Affordable Housing Analysis

Affordable housing became one of the main focuses of public and domestic policy in the aftermath of WWII. Various housing acts were passed to make up for the lack of available housing including large housing development projects particularly in large urban centers. Architecture served as a response to public policy and to push social reform in the area of low-income housing. These housing projects had varying degrees of failure or success that were influenced by a number of factors including location, support, public perception, social integration, and design. The surrounding conditions and design aspects of these projects serve to inform the process of developing future affordable housing. The large housing shortage after WWII, particularly
The housing project was completed when a Supreme Court ruling banned discriminatory and racially-biased housing and the complex became desegregated. This also happened to occur during the period of ‘white flight’ when white, middle class residents moved from the perceived overcrowding and crime of the city for the safety and homogeny of suburban communities. Furthermore, the federal housing agency limited income requirements, essentially removing stable, middle-class residents from the pool of possible tenants. The housing development charged residents based on income and a situation where renters were almost entierly low-income, financially unstable families. Also, a portion of rent payments went towards maintenance of the buildings and facilities, and with lower funds, it became difficult to keep the complex functional due to poor build quality and equipment. The Pruitt-Igoe complex highlighted issues with public policy and the approach of architectural design. Proper federal funding would have allowed for better construction quality and maintenance. Opening up housing units to more middle class residents would lead to more social unity rather than concentrating poverty. Additionally, a shift from the quantity over quality approach would have led to better planning; identifying and addressing
Francis Square project contained ‘garden apartments’ that organized around courtyards that focused inward. The 299-units in the project consisted of three-story buildings over three blocks that grouped around three courtyards that connected the outdoors areas together. The scale of the dense, low-rise buildings remained consistent with the context of the area; architect and city planner Oscar Newman noted this in Defensible Spaces stating, “the architects have been able to capture the feeling of a spacious but well-scaled single family row-house development.” Additionally, the position of units which were either pushed back or pushed forward helped make distinctions between individual units that could be individually