Affordable Homes : Affordable Homes Group 2


Chapters 1 and 2 - The Transportation Revolution: Chapters 1 and 2 - The Transportation Revolution It’s main result was suburbanization: Created suburbs with clear governmental independence, residence-focused expansion, municipal priorities With suburbanization came segregation: The upper crust could now flee to the cities’ peripheries. *Social organizations that were connected to the rich followed. *Cities themselves grew as further travel became possible. Utility-focused segregation *Factories, commercial stretches, residences were in different places.


Modes of transportation that evolved: Modes of transportation that evolved The Ferry *New York City became a chain of interrelated islands. The Omnibus *Big horse-drawn carriage that moved along streets The Railroad *Created suburban villas where stations were *Higher land values *Created hubs where different media for transportation colluded The Horse-Drawn Carriage *Track grooved into the ground, carriage pulled by horses. *Track radiate throughout city *Land value clusters close to the track *Affordable method of transportation


Effects of Transportation: Effects of Transportation The effect of all this: out of town seemed further and further away from urban centers Connectivity of transportation mediums People didn’t want to live too far from rails, either for steam engine or horse-drawn carriage The suburbs became fashionable.


Chapter 3 : Chapter 3 The family became a central unit in society. As more people crowded together in public spaces, families sought to protect home life by building private spaces. Family and Home “Although this attitudinal and behavioral shift characterized much of European and Oriental culture, the emerging values of domesticity, privacy, and isolation reached fullest development in the United States, especially in the middle third of the nineteenth century. In part, this was a function of American wealth.” “The single family home became the paragon of middle-class housing, the most visible symbol of having arrived at a fixed place in society, the goal to which every decent family aspired.” Businessmen and politicians were also invested in homeownership because it would be “chaining the workers by this property to the factory in which they worked.”


Real Estate: Real Estate “The idea that land ownership was a mark of status, as well as a kind of sublime insurance against ill fortune, was brought to the New World as part of the cultural baggage of the European settlers. They established a society on the basis of the private ownership of property, and every attempt to organize settlements along other lines ultimately failed.”


The Yard: The Yard By 1870 separateness had become essential to the identity of suburban houses. The lawn served as a barrier to the outside world. It also served as a place for recreation and socialization on ones own property.


Shaping American Attitude on Housing and Residential Space:: Shaping American Attitude on Housing and Residential Space: The Anti-urban Tradition in American Tought “The suburban ideal offered the promise of an environment that would combine the best of both the city and rural life and that would provide a permanent home for restless people.”


Questions Chapter 3 : Questions Chapter 3 Does the family still serve as a protective institution from the rest of society? -If not, how has this changed and why? Do you feel that people still have the same feeling about the cities (immoral, necessary evil) and suburbs (safe, family)? -If not, how has this changed and why? Or, do you think that there is no general consensus on urban or suburban living, that it is more subjective?


Chapter 4 - Romatic Suburbs: Chapter 4 - Romatic Suburbs Cities were relatively unorganized until 1682 Gridiron system of road building in and out of cities heavily responsible Gridiron system made land-use and individuals property rights much easier and facilitated efficient buying, selling, and improvement of real estate The City gridiron system was used everywhere in just about every American city Eventually it started becoming criticized because gridiron cities were dirty, disease ridden, ugly, and too close together


Start of the Suburbs: Start of the Suburbs 10 years before our civil war "the world's first picturesque suburb was developed" by Llewellyn S Haskell and Alexander Jackson Davis it was named Llewellyn Park Located in West Orange, New Jersey it was just 13 rail miles from New York City It was designed using curvilinear roads instead of the continuation of a gridiron system Llewellyn Park was accepted and applauded for its design that incorporated landscape architecture that all its citizens could be a part of, the average lot was 3 acres Suburban came to be defined as "detached dwellings with sylvan surroundings yet supplied with a considerable share of urban conveniences"


Garden City: Garden City -At around 1850 the next "major" suburb was formed, it was named the Garden City and located by the town of Hempstead, on Long Island Designed and developed by millionaire Alexander T. Stewart, its streets were 5 times the size of the average NYC block LIRR was near the site of Garden City-Originally homes and home sites were leased to potential lesees who had to be screened financially before moving in Suburbs began to spring up outside of cities throughout the nation, mainly upper middle class settlers moved to the suburbs to escape the downfall of the city, suburbs are still popular in their form today


Housing Acts: Housing Acts the US Housing Act of 1937 was aimed at creating jobs and eradicating sub-standard housing rather then focusing on housing the poor The housing act of 1949 re instituted the New Deal public housing program-The program has been criticized because it destroyed more housing then it developed through slum clearing programs-Public housing failed because it built in social high rise buildings that bred "antisocial behavior“ Welfare rental checks do not insure their recipients decent housing because welfare recipients pocket the money and wreck their apartments leading to abandonment The private housing market does a more efficient job of eliminating slums and providing housing than government can


Questions Chapter 4: Questions Chapter 4 Is suburban living as desirable today as it was back then and are the suburbs as accessible to lower class ranges then they were in the past? In a capitalist society is government benevolence to the poor something that is desirable in maintaining an effective economy? Won't this just bean early communist stage?


Chapter 5 : Chapter 5 1861- agriculture larger than transportation and industry 1913 – Introduction of Model T Beginning of Industrial Revolution


Industrial Revolution: Industrial Revolution Railroads started by Vanderbilt, Stanford, Huntington, and Hopkins Oil – Rockefeller Steel – Carnegie Sugar – Havenmeyer Banking – J.P. Morgan Mining – Guggenheim Meat- Cutty,Swift, & Armour Tobacco - Duke


From Rural Estates to Outside Major Metropolis: From Rural Estates to Outside Major Metropolis Manor estate homes – Newport, RH, Bar Harbor, ME , Saratoga,NY , and Loudour,VA Later Long Island and Marshall Field, Chicago Small percentage of population but set the standard high-life suburban living


1870- Upper Income Apartments in Cities: 1870- Upper Income Apartments in Cities Started to flourish in NYC, then Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore Elite had the best apartments in the city Start of the middle class


Country Clubs : Country Clubs Created in suburbs to show social status Recreational activities and social events Way to Relax, created their own social class Kept to themselves Instead of working hard, they played hard


Families Adapt to Lifestyle changes: Families Adapt to Lifestyle changes Distinctive society classes form Inner – city living for lower classes, except extremely wealthy Suburban and middle-class use railroads to get to the city Lower paid workers live in cities but still use the rail system as a cheap way to commute


Questions Chapter 5 : Questions Chapter 5 What would have changed in the social classes if the rail system was not developed? How did the classes separate upper, middle, lower in reaction to the industrial revolution?


Chapter 7 – Affordable Homes for the Common Man: Chapter 7 – Affordable Homes for the Common Man One of the biggest factors that made affordable housing accessible was the electric trolley which brought people from the suburbs to the cities where the jobs were for a cheap rate. Investors like F.M. Smith from Oakland, Henry E. Huntington from Los Angles, and Senator Newlands from Washington D.C., all used electric trolleys to sell and develop there land outside the cities. One reason American suburbs developed so quickly compared to their European counterparts was that real estate investors were able to speculate in electric trolley companies which gave them more incentive to grow quickly.


Other Reasons for Affordable Housing : Other Reasons for Affordable Housing Another reason affordable real estate grew quickly was because of the new balloon-frame houses They were easer to construct and much cheaper to build People could now build their own homes instead of having to have them built Another reason suburbs were able to spread so quick was because of the abundance of cheap land available right outside the cities Tax policies which funded better roads, sewage, and other essential services, also helped suburbs grow rapidly


Chapter 7 Questions : Chapter 7 Questions Between electric trolleys, balloon framed houses, cheap land, and tax funded services, which was most important to the building of affordable housing in American suburbs? What effect if any did the rise of affordable housing have on the countries economy? Was it a positive or negative effect on the average American looking to buy a house that land developers often had a controlling interest in the electric street car industry?


Housing Policy and the Myth of the Benevolent State- Peter Marcuse 1986 : Housing Policy and the Myth of the Benevolent State- Peter Marcuse 1986 One of the first housing regulations was put into place in 1766, it created a fire zone in which houses had to be made of brick or stone and roofs had to be tile or slate Health problems led to the tenement acts of 1867 and 1901 because of poor housing conditions for low-income families, riots and economic crises help facilitate this Housing codes were never meant as a benevolent way to help the poor they were just seen as a means to prevent any physical, social, or political disturbance Public Provision of housing was more closely tied with the manufacture of wartime goods then with govt. benevolence ie: housing allowances for shipbuilders of ships to be used in war


Pruitt-Igoe: Pruitt-Igoe St. Louis, MO 1956 33 - 11 story buildings Old DeSotto Carr Site Mayor Joseph Darst major hand in planning of site Even poor didn’t want to live there


Hayes - Federal Housing Assistance: Hayes - Federal Housing Assistance FHA substantially broadened its client- base during the housing shortage Established Fannie Mae in 1938 Democrats saw blacks as a pivotal element to a party win, responding to their demands for civil rights Housing Act of 1934 relaxing FHA standards for mortgages in blighted areas Ginnie Mae created to supplement Fannie Mae with higher risk low income mortgages


Site Selection and Target Population: Site Selection and Target Population Local Governments were given a role in site selection Thought to be stigma if new projects built near old run down projects Some poor refused to live in projects even if they needed the help FHA set income limits at 5 times rent to make sure they were definite low income earners Higher Quality Projects would give less incentive for self- betterment Projects criticized for lack of human scale


Sections 235 and 236: Sections 235 and 236 Section 235 – mortgage properties, home-owners Section 236 – geared towards renters 3 types of Sponsors for 236 – Cooperatives, non profits, or limited partnerships These programs ran into serious trouble with the construction boom


Nixon’s Moratorium: Nixon’s Moratorium Moratorium came from a national debate over the proper role federal, state, and local governments in administering domestic programs. Called it “New Federalism”


Questions - Hayes: Questions - Hayes Does the fact that local government has a say in location of the projects make it more corrupt, putting them only in bad areas? Do you believe there is stigma in housing? Will people really not try to better themselves if projects are too nice?