Contents:
- Bowen Homes
- Dearborn Homes
- Desire Projects
- Geneva Towers
- James A. Cayce Homes
- Melpomene
- Murphy Homes
- Ramona Gardens
- San Fernando Gardens
- Prospect Plaza
- Pruitt-Igoe
- Richard Allen
- Page 1: 1-10
- Page 2: 11-20
21. Melpomene Projects
| Location | Central City, New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Units | 993 |
| Groundbreaking | 1963 |
| Completed | 1964 |
| Demolished | 2004-2011 |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
The Melpomene Projects aka “The Melph” officially called the Gustavo Apartments aka “The Guste Homes” are located in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. The project was constructed in 1964 and occupies 10 city blocks and includes seven buildings.
The project is four three-story buildings, two four-story buildings and a high-rise building for the elderly. Prior to being constructed in 1964, the site had single and multi-family homes but in the 1950s, New Orleans declared them slums. The city chose to demolish the homes and start building what would become the Melpomene Project.
By the 1980s, the Melpomene project was known as a violent area where drugs were sold. Crime and violence continued to increase in the 1990s and by 2004, three of the 6 low-rise buildings were demolished. The Melpomene projects was one of the few that survived Hurricane Katrina in 2006.
The last building in the Melpomene projects was demolished in 2013. The Guste Homes were constructed on the site where the project once stood. In 2018, the Guste Homes were completed. The new complex contains 638 homes, 577 of which are public housing units.
22. James A. Cayce Homes
| Location | East Nashville, Tennessee |
| Units | 386 |
| Groundbreaking | 1939 |
| Completed | 1941 |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
The James A. Cayce Homes were constructed from 1939 to 1941 in East Nashville, Tennessee. The project was originally built for white residents only and the J.C. Napier Homes, also located in Nashville, were built for African Americans.
By the early 2000s, the crime rate at the James A. Cayce Homes skyrocketed and it was the lowest-income locality in Nashville. WKRN reports that in 2017, there were 128 violent crimes reported in Cayce, including 6 homicides.
In 2018, demolition of the James Cayce Homes began and crews began work on Envision Cayce, a $600 million mix-income housing community. The Envision Cayce master plan includes 716 apartments in old Cayce and 254 in neighboring CWA Plaza Apartments. Five Cayce projects have already been completed as of 2022.
23. Prospect Plaza Houses
| Location | Brooklyn, New York |
| Units | 368 |
| Groundbreaking | 1973 |
| Completed | 1974 |
| Demolished | 2005-2014 |
| Notable Residents | Latrice Walker, NY State Assembly member |
The Prospect Plaza Houses were located in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York and construction was completed in 1974. The project originally consisted of four 12 and 15 story buildings containing a total of 368 public housing units.
On August 28, 1994, a 4-year-old Shamone Johnson was shot and killed while she was roller skating outside the Prospect Plaza complex. The Associated Press reports that Johnson was an innocent victim of a stray bullet.
In 2000, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), moved 1,500 residents out of three of the towers at the complex, claiming they’d have new apartments ready for the residents by 2005. The authority wasn’t able to fulfill that promise and it took until 2014 for NYCHA and developers to finally decide to demolish the vacant buildings.
24. Desire Projects
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Units | 1,860 |
| Groundbreaking | 1949 |
| Completed | 1956 |
| Demolished | 1995-1999 |
| Notable Residents | Marshall Faulk, NFL player |
The Desire Housing Project was located in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. Construction of the Desire project started in 1949 and was complete by 1956. The project contained 262 two-story buildings and 1,860 apartments.
Desire was intended to serve poor blacks in New Orleans. The project was built on a site that was previously a landfill, on swampland that had to be drained before construction. After World War II, the Desire neighborhood became one of the first neighborhoods where black homeownership was encouraged.
The Desire projects were poorly designed a few years after being constructed it looked run down. WWNO explains that the projects looked horrible because it was built with wood on cinder blocks, whereas other public housing projects were built on cement. Desire was built with brick veneer which is weaker than the solid brick used to construct other public housing projects.
Hurricane Betsy slammed into New Orleans on September 9, 1965 causing the bottom floor apartments of Desire to flood. The hurricane caused major damage to the housing project but little was done by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) to repair the damage.
In 1970 members of the New Orleans Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF), a group led by the Black Panthers, moved to Desire and began organizing with the community. The group established a free breakfast program for children, along with other initiatives.
On September 15, 1970, a standoff took place between members of law enforcement and members of the Black Panthers. Members of law enforcement went to the headquarters of the Black Panthers on Piety Street and opened fire for about 20 minutes. Luckily, no one was harmed.
The Panthers surrendered and were taken to the New Orleans Parish Prison. WWL-TV explains that the incident led to a daylong standoff between the Black Panthers and the police in the Desire development.
In 1997, demolition of the Desire projects began and by 1999, Desire was completely demolished.
25. Pruitt-Igoe
| Location | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Units | 2,870 |
| Groundbreaking | 1951 |
| Completed | 1954 |
| Demolished | 1972-1976 |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
Pruitt-Igoe aka the Wendell O. Pruitt Homes and William Igoe Apartments were located in St. Louis, Missouri and constructed from 1951 to 1954.
According to HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R), the first tenant moved into Pruitt-Igoe in 1954 and by the 1960s the complex’s vacancy rate rose, crime surged and living conditions were horrible.
St. Louis Public Radio explains that in 1994, the U.S. government released documents revealing that it sprayed zinc cadmium sulfide into Pruitt-Igoe as a part of a military experiment.
In the early 1970s, the city of St. Louis admitted that Pruitt-Igoe was a complete failure. Demolition began in 1972 and the complex was completely demolished by 1976.
26. Murphy Homes
| Location | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Units | 758 |
| Groundbreaking | 1961 |
| Completed | 1963 |
| Demolished | 1999 |
| Notable Residents | Leroy Taylor, kickboxer |
The George B. Murphy Homes were opened on New Year’s Eve of 1963. The project contained four 14-story high-rise buildings and twenty 2-story and 3-story low-rise buildings and townhomes.
The Murphy Homes were located at 1058 Argyle Avenue in West Baltimore and had a total of 758 units in the high-rise building.
Baltimore Heritage explains that the Murphy Homes became known for crime by the 1990s. Crime was so bad in the Murphy Homes that people started calling the complex the “Murder Homes.”
The Baltimore Sun explains that it was not unusual to see children playing with their toys in the hallways of the Murphy Homes while dope dealers made sales just steps away. A former resident said that the children and “druggies” were oblivious to each other.
The Murphy Homes were demolished in 1999 and the city, state and federal government used $61 million to replace the complex with Heritage Crossing which was completed in 2003. The Baltimore Sun explains that the Myrtle Avenue building was the first to fall on the day the project was demolished, followed by two buildings collapsing at Myrtle and George Street. A few seconds after the initial blast, the fourth building, located on Fremont Avenue, was blown to pieces.
Unlike the Murphy Homes which contained 781 public housing units, Heritage Crossing contains 75 public housing units and 185 subsidized homeownership units.
27. Richard Allen Housing Project
| Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Units | 1,324 |
| Groundbreaking | 1939 |
| Completed | 1941 |
| Demolished | 2003 |
| Notable Residents | Bill Cosby, actor |
The Richard Allen Housing Project, once known as the Poplar Project was completed in 1941 and named after Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Planning of the housing project began during the Great Depression and the construction of the complex was intended to provide a boost to the struggling construction industry and provide affordable housing to struggling working-class families.
The Richard Allen Housing Project originally contained 1,324 units and was built on 26 acres in North Philadelphia. The development was made up of a total of 52 three- and four-story brick buildings with enclosed courtyards which were designed to create the feel of garden apartments. Over time, the green spaces were paved over and the buildings infrastructure began to fail.
By the 1980s, the Richard Allen Homes were struggling from the same ills that plagued other government-run public housing projects in cities across the nation. The crime rate skyrocketed, the courtyards became territory for drug users and dealers and gang members controlled the area.
NPR reports that Richard Allen’s most famous resident was comedian and actor Bill Cosby, who grew up in the area. Longtime locals still remember Cosby and his friend “Fat Albert” walking up Marshall Street.
In 2003, the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) completed a redevelopment of the Richard Allen Housing Project, demolishing the old homes that made up the complex and replacing them with suburban semi-detached homes. The area is now known as the “Richard Allen Homes.”
28. Bowen Homes
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Units | 650 |
| Groundbreaking | 1963 |
| Completed | 1964 |
| Demolished | 2009 |
| Notable Residents | Shawty Lo, rapper Evander Holyfield, boxer |
The Bowen Homes were completed in 1964 and located along Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway aka Bankhead Highway in Atlanta, Georgia. The project contained 650 units and was located in District 9.
In 1964, federal urban renewal officials approved Early Land Acquisition for the Civic Center so the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) had to displace thousands of people. The Housing Authority set aside 300 units in the Bowen Homes which provided housing for about 4,000 people that were displaced, most from the old Buttermilk Bottoms area.
The projects made headlines in 1980 after a water tube boiler exploded at the Gate City Bowen Homes Day Care, killing four preschool children and a teacher. UPI explains that fire officials blamed the explosion on gas leaking from the daycare’s furnace.
Like many other public housing projects, Bowen Homes struggled with drugs and violence from the 1970s to 2009, the year the project was demolished.
29. Dearborn Homes
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Units | 800 |
| Groundbreaking | 1949 |
| Completed | 1950 |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
The Dearborn Homes was constructed in 1950, shortly after World War II and intended for blacks. The complex contained 800 units within 16 buildings, 6 and 9 stories tall.
The Chicago Tribune explains that the Dearborn Homes were the first Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) project to have elevators instead of walk-ups. By the 1980s, the project became rundown and was dominated by crime and drug trafficking.
A DEA News Release explains that in 2006, 29 alleged members of the Mickey Cobras street gang, that had a stranglehold over the residents of Dearborn, were arrested for selling fentanyl-laced heroin, crack cocaine and marijuana. The complaint alleges that anyone who wanted to sell drugs in the section of Dearborn that the Mickey Cobras controlled, had to get permission from the gang’s “Board of Directors.”
In 2006, several drug purchasers in the Dearborn Homes overdosed on fentanyl and died. The drugs were allegedly supplied by members of the Mickey Cobra organization. The deaths led law enforcement to intensify their efforts to dismantle the gang and on April 25, 2006, more than 190 grams of fentanyl was seized.
The Dearborn Homes were renovated in five phases which started in 2009. By 2011, residents that had to move out during the renovation, began moving back in. South Side Weekly explains that vacant units and storage rooms were combined with apartments, reducing the number of units from 800 to 660.
30. Ramona Gardens
| Location | Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California |
| Units | 610 |
| Groundbreaking | 1939 |
| Completed | 1941 |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
Ramona Gardens is a public housing project located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The project was completed in 1941 and contains 610 units in 112 two-story buildings.
A few years after the project was built, the Big Hazard (BH) street gang aka Hazard Grande claimed territory at the Ramona Gardens projects and has terrorized the housing project for decades. Big Hazard was named after Hazard Park which is located nearby.
The Department of Justice explains that in 2021, Carlos Hernandez, a senior member of Big Hazard was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for firebombing African American families that lived at the Ramona Gardens projects. The firebombings occurred in 2014 and involved Hernandez aka “Rider” aka “Creeper” and seven other members of Big Hazard.
The gang members smashed the windows of the apartments and tossed Molotov cocktails into the residences. Three of the four targeted apartments were occupied by black families who were asleep at the time of the attack. Big Hazard sought to drive black families out of Ramona Gardens.
All the news involving Ramona Gardens is not negative. In October of 2022, Los Angeles Rams head coach, Sean McVay provided funding for new playground equipment at the Ramona Gardens projects. The playground was completely refurbished and the equipment was designed in partnership with Legacy LA, an organization that creates pipelines of opportunities for generations of youth.
Honorable Mentions
San Fernando Gardens
| Location | San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California |
| Units | 448 |
| Groundbreaking | 1954 |
| Completed | 1955 |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
The San Fernando Gardens housing project was built in 1955 and is located in the Pacoima district of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. The project contains 448 units and was built during World War II for wartime workers at the aerospace manufacturing facility.
The LA Times reports that a major population shift occurred at the San Fernando Gardens housing projects. Its population went from a slight African American majority in the 1970s to about 90% Hispanic in the early 1990s.
Gangs existed in Pacoima since the 1940s, about a decade before the San Fernando Gardens housing project was built, so it wasn’t a surprise when the following four gangs made the project their primary territory: the Pacoima Project Boys, the Pacoima Project Flats, Latin Times Pacoima and Pacas 13.
Violence between gangs throughout the 1980s and 90s led to a gang injunction in 2001. According to the LA Times, a court order issued on August 22, 2001 made it illegal for any two members of the Pacoima Project Boys gang to associate in a “safety zone” which was bordered by Paxton Street, Pierce Street and San Fernando Road. If caught, violators faced up to 6 months behind bars.
In 2020, the LAPD assigned 10 officers to the San Fernando Gardens projects in an attempt to develop better relationships between the police and members of the community. The goal was to embed the officers in the projects to have conversations with residents to determine the most effective way to solve quality of life problems.
Geneva Towers
| Location | Visitacion Valley, San Francisco, California |
| Units | 576 |
| Groundbreaking | 1965 |
| Completed | 1966 |
| Demolished | 1998 |
| Notable Residents | N/A |
The Geneva Towers were completed in 1966 and contained 576 units. The complex was meant to be exclusive private dwellings and initially, several doctors and lawyers moved in.
The year it opened, rents ranged from about $130 to $158 per month for a 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom unit. If you were looking to move in as a 2-person family, you couldn’t earn more than $7,000 and $10,750 was the income ceiling for 7 or more people.
KALW explains that when the Towers were built, real estate developer, Joe Echler, hoped to attract middle income airport workers that lived around San Francisco, but that never happened. As the years went by, Geneva Towers became predominantly black and the project began to deteriorate due to poverty and management failures. In the 1970s, there were a substantial number of vacant units at the Geneva Towers housing project.
Sadly, in 1993, San Francisco Fire Lieutenant Jerry Butler died after suffering burns when a wall of flame blasted through the door of a burning apartment in the Geneva Towers housing project. Butler was the first black firefighter to die in the line of duty in San Francisco.
By the 1980s and 90s, crime increased and by 1991, HUD took over the Geneva Towers due to the horrible living conditions and flawed design for family housing. SFGATE explains that the demise of the Geneva Towers signaled another round of change in a neighborhood that had undergone significant demographic shifts throughout the 1980s and 90s, as Asian immigrants moved in, overshadowing the black population.
In 1995, HUD closed the Geneva Towers due to crime and relocated residents. On May 16, 1998, the Geneva Towers were demolished.
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