Slum Clearance and Public Housing
![The simple, direct method / Baldy, [ca. 1966]](/images/229-c1440b623dfe2e7ea864e1e2b93bbe4c/full/!800,800/0/default.jpg)
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This 1966 cartoon by Clifford Baldowski depicts a giant broom labeled "Atlanta's Slum Clearance Program" sweeping up the city's problems: "crime," "disease," "unfit housing," and "juvenile delinquency."
Courtesy of Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, Clifford H. Baldowski Editorial Cartoon Collection.
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This photograph shows a view of residents on Augusta Avenue in the Copenhill neighborhood before it was demolished.
Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta History Photograph Collection.
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This map from 1957 shows the areas of Atlanta that were planned for clearance and redevelopment projects.
Courtesy of Georgia State University. Libraries, Planning Atlanta: A New City in the Making, 1930s - 1990s.
In the 1950s slum clearance was promoted to address problems associated with urban life such as crime, disease, and unfit housing. Areas selected for slum clearance were chosen using a variety of factors, including poor living conditions and the opportunity for commercial redevelopment. The federal government played a significant role in slum clearance efforts in the postwar era. The Housing Act of 1949, signed by President Harry Truman, provided federal financing for slum clearance and urban redevelopment through the power of eminent domain land acquisition. The Housing Act of 1954, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, provided funding for 140,000 units of public housing, particularly for families who were displaced by slum clearance. As a result, Mayor William B. Hartsfield and the Atlanta Housing Authority were expected to make an effort to find replacement housing for displaced residents. Harris Homes, which the Atlanta Housing Authority completed in 1957, represented a step in the right direction, but subsequent slum clearance areas were targeted for other forms of urban redevelopment. This represented a significant shift in that the construction of public housing was no longer necessarily tied to urban renewal projects.