Luciana Spracher  6/28/2000

    The federal program of public housing, started by the PWA in Atlanta, GA in the 1930s, failed the neediest sector of the population by ignoring the causes that created an environment in which substandard housing thrived, poverty and discrimination.  Techwood and University Homes in Atlanta were the nation's first public housing prjects and set the course for the future of public housing.  Atlanta's models incorporated extensive slum clearance to make way for the construction of low-income housing.  High construction costs, enforcement of Jim Crow Laws, racial discrimination, and an inadequate number of units caused the displacement of Atlantans by race and class, and the persistence of slums and the slum dweller.