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Introduction
Affordable housing has been an issue in New York City (NYC) for over a century. Since the 19th century, the need to have high-quality affordable housing has been one of NYC’s most urgent problems. However, Mayor Bill de Blasio established it as a focal issue of his administration with a promise to build and preserve 200,000 affordable housing units over 10 years (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). Further, 8 percent of the rental apartments approximately 178,000 units in the city were government–owned and operated public housing developments (Gray, 2022. The essay analyzes Harlem River Houses (1937m577 units in Manhattan) and discusses the legislation, public policy, political movements, social trends, financial mechanisms, and the people who made the project possible.
Harlem River Houses (1937m577 Units in Manhattan)
NYCHA (PWA) sponsored the project under the public housing program and Archibald Manning Brown and others as the architect. Harlem River houses emerged as the first publicly constructed and owned housing complex completed in NYC (Gray, 2022). The project is remarkable for its design and uniqueness among low-income public housing complexes in the city that depicted a connection between the garden-type courtyard complexes and the modern designs that are related to big-city public housing and the eradication of slums (Schuetz, 2021). In addition, it is noticeable for its enhanced amenities despite being constructed for black American families who experienced unequal access to public services.
Legislation
US President Roosevelt in a move to support affordable housing in the United States signed the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937 into law. The Harlem housing project was started in 1937 after the new law as the first government-financed housing complex in NYC (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). The project was aimed at being an environment where black Americans might live safe from the influences of discrimination. The new legislation established the US Housing Authority (USHA), which offered $500 million in terms of loans for low-cost housing projects across the nation. The permanent public housing programs initiated by Albany in 1938 and Washington in 1937 helped to solve the issues in the housing sector. It has made a small, although a substantial effort to serve low-income Americans (Ehlenz, 2022). It permitted for Harlem River Houses to succeed in using generous government funds to improve by initiating moderately lower building heights and more open space at low rentals for black Americans in NYC.
For many years, NYC’s increasing African American population suffered the worst living conditions in the city due to segregated access to houses and a mostly limited housing market. Black Americans experienced higher mortality rates than the rest of the city while proprietors exploited discrimination to charge higher rents for lower-quality housing (Gray, 2022). However, the first NYCHA projects were strictly segregated favouring the whites with Harlem River meant only for black Americans and Williamsburg open only to Whites. The Harlem riot in 1935 changed the focus of the legislation, as the city did not devote its attention to black American citizens (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). The Harlem River Houses project was successful due to the legislation that was laid back in 1937 and proceeding enhancements on the laws.
Public Policy
The Harlem River Houses project, in Manhattan, acts as a strong model for other housing communities. NYCHA was established to offer new housing with help from the federal and state governments via the development of several public housing projects in New York City. The USHA of 1937 created the country’s public housing policy (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). It was declared to be the US policy to promote the general welfare of the country. The most critical proposition of the law was providing federal subsidies and aid to local housing authorities to construct houses for low-income citizens. The NYCHA aimed at indirectly or directly influencing housing availability and supply, improving urban planning and housing standards (Schuetz, 2021). The housing policy contributed to the generous use of government resources to build modern designs at the Harlem housing project.
Social Trends
For many years, the city has been experiencing a growing number of African American populations as they encountered the worst living situations due to segregation policies in the housing market. The property owners exploited discriminative policies to charge black Americans higher rents for lower-quality houses. Harlem River Houses were the second public housing try out of New York City. The project followed the garden apartment structure with careful sculptural adornments and landscaping (Schuetz, 2021). There is the development of multifamily buildings in Harlem. The area is currently experiencing environmental conservation. Harlem River preservation is going on in collaboration with Settlement Housing Fund (SHF) has developed affordable apartments and contributed to the community and educational programs across the city. SHF has done renovation in the Bronx through the installation of new bathrooms, kitchens, and building systems (Gray, 2022). There is growth in social service providers, for example, PSS a multi-service agency that provides social services to aging people in the areas strengthening the capacity of the elderly, their families, and communities to flourish. Further, West Harlem Group Assistance (WHGA) has established Community Development Corporation in the area in creating and redeveloping affordable homes and offering social services (Ehlenz, 2022). This has contributed to new playground equipment and updated landscaping, improved security, modernized building systems, common areas upgrades, and the hiring of NYCHA residents for available job opportunities.
Political Movements
The initial NYCHA projects were planned, although houses were given to whites, for instance, First Houses and Williamsburg Houses. However, the 1935 Harlem riot led things to start changing because the focus on New York City had not committed to its black Americans. Harlem River Houses had earlier planned for the expansion of the Dunbar Apartments in 1926 (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). It arose an opportunity for City’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia with a move to transform and clean his reputation with the African American society without altering the underlying segregation of the city (Gray, 2022). This created an avenue for the project to proceed up to the current housing modernization and the emergence of Harlem River Houses.
Financial Mechanisms and the People
The Harlem River Houses complex was completed in 1937 in an attempt to improve the poor housing market accessibility for the black community. The project was directly funded by NYCHA (PWA) to serve black American New Yorkers (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). The people behind its success are architect, Archibald Manning Brown alongside his team that comprised John Louis Wilson, the first black American licensed architect in the city. The team utilized the generous federal funds to enhance it by initiating moderately lower building heights of 4 to 5 stores other than the 5 to 6 with more open space (Schuetz, 2021). The led to establishment of modern houses for the black population in Harlem area.
The project fits within the historical arc of affordable housing development in NYC because it was the first federally funded public housing built for black Americans in the city in 1937. Harlem River Houses fit into the affordable housing development because it absorbed 45% of the construction costs and apartments were rented out at an average of $7 per room monthly (Bloom & Lasner, 2016). The houses were constructed without a particular association with construction cost to the rent-paying capacity of the potential tenants. The project succeeds in providing modern housing for low-income black Americans. The shortcomings with this project are only 577 apartments were set for over 11,000 applicants a number that reflected both the dire situation of the depression and the severity of housing privation in the black American community (Gray, 2022). Further, NYCHA applied a point system that favored the employed with good references, savings, and other unblemished social records leaving out others. The extended families and lodgers were prohibited from the selection (Schuetz, 2021). Therefore, the selection process involved favoring certain people from the low-income African American populations.
However, future legislation or policy on affordable housing should focus on the less and most vulnerable people in society first. For instance, the capping of income forced the majority of the people to be left out of the project when in a real sense they should be the ones benefiting first. The project should have started to consider unskilled and semi-skilled workers in their selection process because they are the most widely affected by poor living conditions in slums due to their meager income. Future projects should consider prioritizing the most vulnerable in society to lighten their burden (Ehlenz, 2022). There should be more support for key public housing in the area to increase access to social services and residential units.
Conclusion
The Harlem River Houses project has been praised for its design and complex social services that were generous government funded public housing for the black American community. The project provided a safe place for the blacks from discrimination in low-quality housing that was highly charged. NYCHA at first used to build housing for whites only and blacks were segregated. However, opening of the Harlem River Houses project under affordable public housing in 1937 was a great step in improving the lives of the blacks in the city.
References
Bloom, N. D., & Lasner, M. G. (2016). Affordable housing in New York: The people, places, and policies that transformed a city. Princeton University Press.
Ehlenz, M. M. (2022). Making home more affordable: Community land trusts adopting cooperative ownership models to expand affordable housing. The Affordable Housing Reader, 176-190. Web.
Gray, M. N. (2022). Arbitrary lines: How zoning broke the American city and how to fix it. Island Press.
Schuetz, J. (2021). Fixer-upper: How to repair America’s crumbling housing policies.
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