The History Behind It

During the 1930s there was a high demand for affordable housing. Public housing provided the for low income families. The state of public housing has changed over the years and the situation has become more pressing. At the time the African Americans need for public housing was great because of redlining policies that excluded blacks from the suburbs. Despite this fact the earliest public housing units were in white neighborhoods reserved for white tenets. By the 1950s when the city's black population was on the rise public housing units for blacks where made in North and South Philadelphia. With more and more blacks living in these public housing projects less whites were willing to live in them creating more segregation in the city. Public housing projects took a turn for the worst during the 1960s. Traditionally rent from residents would be enough to cover management and maintenance costs but this changed when an amendment was passed limiting the rent to exceed no more than 25 percent of the residents income. At the same time, however, management and maintenance costs rose which led to a discrepancy on how to fund these housing units. This led to the deterioration of public housing in Philadelphia. Lately federal funding has supported public housing in Philadelphia allowing for new and rejuvenated houses to be built but a bigger problem still remains.
http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/public-housing/