A New Book Explores The Lost Political Power Of Atlanta’s Public Housing Tenants

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May 17th, 2021

A new book, “Diverging Space for Deviants,” considers the role of public housing tenants in the development of the city and its politics. Pictured here is John Hope Homes, adjacent to University Homes, one of the many public housing projects that Atlanta eventually demolished.

Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress

People often think of public housing as a failure in Atlanta.

The city embraced the idea early on. It opened the first project in the country, Techwood Homes, in 1934. And after that, Atlanta kept building public housing. At one point, 50,000 tenants—10% of Atlanta’s population—lived in government-funded units.

But by 1980, the projects became known as centers for crime and poor living conditions. That year, Akira Drake Rodriguez points out in her new book “Divergent Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing,” the city found ten thousand housing code violations at Techwood Homes and neighboring Clark Howell Homes.

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