Pruitt-Igoe In The 1950's

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Pruitt Igoe What would it feel like to move into a neighborhood where everything was brand new and well maintained? Those experienced a new neighborhood that was well taken care of with the establishment of Pruitt-Igoe in the 1950s. However, there was a lack of maintenance due to the fact that tenants could not afford to pay their rent. Even though Pruitt-Igoe suffered failure, some of the key lessons that can be learned are from the negative outcomes of segregation, as well as further planned actions by the housing department and government. During the 1950s, St. Louis was increasingly populated due to all the people migrating into the city. Most of the people who came into the city were farmers and immigrants who came with very little …show more content…

The apartment did not have enough money to operate due to the fact that tenants could not pay enough money for maintenance to continue doing their job. As a result, the apartment accumulated filth and elevators lacked proper function, resulting in many individuals having to climb eleven floors of stairs. As Pruitt-Igoe started to become unsanitary and dangerous, many individuals began to move out. Also during that time, suburbanization was beginning where people were moving out of the city to live in the suburbs. The federal government supported the suburbs so that middle and upper classes could live in it. Also, buying a home in the suburbs was considered cheaper than renting an apartment in the city. Almost all the white people moved out of Pruitt-Igoe to join the white community in the suburbs. They did not want black people moving into the community because they felt unsafe and they also did not want their house prices to plummet. Another reason why Pruitt-Igoe failed was because they would not let any able-bodied man to be in the house. The family had to be separated and the dad usually had to work in another state in order to provide for his family. People in Pruitt-Igoe were voided of their basic human rights. As people increasingly left the apartment, Pruitt-Igoe gained notorious reputation for drug-related gangs and crimes. Later in 1972, …show more content…

One of the key lessons learned from Pruitt-Igoe is even if the government does build apartments for those with lower income, without the ability to afford rent in a timely manner, the government’s actions will be rendered useless. In the documentary, some people had to pay three-quarters of their income as rent in order to live there. The housing department failed to recognize that even if their intentions were to help citizens, they would be unable to do so if the rent is too expensive. The rent should have been an affordable price for those with lower income. One solution could have been that those affordable housings could have been built outside the city where the rent might be considerably cheaper and more affordable. If the government had a better policy such as limiting rent to one quarter of the income, the rent strike of Pruitt-Igoe could have been avoided. Also if the housing department negotiated with the tenants, the failure of Pruitt Igoe could have been

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