History
Starting from the 1800s, New York’s population increased in a tremendous rate. In Jacob Riis’s photo journal “ How the Other Half Live: Studies Among the Tenements of New York” , the inhumane living conditions of slums in 1880s New York City were documented with sincere writing and photographs. New immigrants from Europe such as Italians and Irish were living in conditions that were so bad people died from foul air: “The death of a child in a tenement was registered at the Bureau of Vital Statistics as "plainly due to suffocation in the foul air of an unventilated apartment," and the Senators, who had come down from Albany to find out what was the matter with New York, reported that "there are annually cut off from the population by disease and death enough human beings to people a city, and enough human labor to sustain it." Jacob’s works attracted a lot of public’s attentions and it led to some improvements such as better ventilation system and sewage system for the slums [iv].
In 1930s, the Great Depression hit New York hard. The stock market crashed and many people lost everything they had. The unemployment rate went sky rocket. With no income, thousands of families were forced to give up their homes. They moved to multi-families houses that were originally meant for single-families. These neighborhoods were overcrowded in the lower east side of Manhattan. The ventilation in these tenements was very poor because of the poor design of the windows and narrow space left in between buildings. The narrow space left between buildings also resulted in poor natural lighting. People living in the tenements often used coal for fire. However, the tenements often lacked fire escape routes. Since the houses were built for single-families, the plumbing systems were often inefficient. To develop a good housing system for this large amount of people, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) was established on January 20th, 1934. As a government agent, NYCHA aimed to develop housing projects to provide safe and affordable living environment to the New York communities. At the same time, couple different Federal Housing Acts such as the Federal Housing Act of 1937 were introduced to improve the housing situation of low-income families. Over the decades, the public housing program went from focusing on building model projects to building large-scale high-rise public housing.The development of public housing in New York have helped many people get their sweet homes [i].
Below is part one of a short documentary called "How Public Housing Transformed New York City 1935-67". It was made by students from LaGuardia Community College. The photographs they used in the video was made by photographer from NYCHA and the narration was written by historian Joel Schwartz. It included photos of different streets and various public housing projects all over New York. The photographer didn't leave much details on the story behind the photos. Nevertheless, they captured a memorable part of the New York City.
Below is part one of a short documentary called "How Public Housing Transformed New York City 1935-67". It was made by students from LaGuardia Community College. The photographs they used in the video was made by photographer from NYCHA and the narration was written by historian Joel Schwartz. It included photos of different streets and various public housing projects all over New York. The photographer didn't leave much details on the story behind the photos. Nevertheless, they captured a memorable part of the New York City.
[i] "About NYCHA Fact Sheet." New York City Housing Authority. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/about/factsheet.shtml. (Accessed July 25,2013)
[ii] (Image) "How the other half lives cover". http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/image/detail/How-the-Other-Half-Lives.jpg
[iii] (Image) "The Great Depression". http://history369.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/bayard-st-5-cent-lodging.jpg
[iv] Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York (Kessinger Publishing, 2004)
[v] (Video)] How Public Housing Transformed New York City 1935-67. Part one. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/Y-aH0zz1L38 on July 31st, 2013.
[ii] (Image) "How the other half lives cover". http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/image/detail/How-the-Other-Half-Lives.jpg
[iii] (Image) "The Great Depression". http://history369.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/bayard-st-5-cent-lodging.jpg
[iv] Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York (Kessinger Publishing, 2004)
[v] (Video)] How Public Housing Transformed New York City 1935-67. Part one. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/Y-aH0zz1L38 on July 31st, 2013.