Pruitt-Igoe

The title sounds like a luxurious sedan coming out of Italy, doesn't it?  In fact, it was the name of a famous housing complex constructed in the late 1940's/early 1950's by city engineers in St. Louis, MO.  The first residents to occupy the first building was in 1954.  There were a total of 33 buildings constructed and the last building was demolished in 1976.  It is considered the best example of why federal housing is not a good idea.  The intention was to provide adequate housing for masses and the purpose was to revitalize the city of St. Louis.  Overrun with slum dwellings infested with poor and inadequate plumbing and disease and rats and roaches, the city planners wanted to remove the old buildings and construct affordable housing within the city.  The proposal to the city was titled "Slum surgery in St. Louis".  The complex consisted of 33, 11-story buildings built on a 57 acre site.  The initial cost of Pruitt-Igoe was $36 million dollars which, at that time, was 60% higher than the national average and the cost overruns were blamed on inflated unionized wages and the installation of an unnecessary expensive heating system pushed on the city by the steamfitter's union.  Due to the expense of the heating system there where costs in cuts to other parts of the buildings.  In 1957, one year after the state's ruling on desegregation in public housing, maximum occupancy was seen at it's highest at 91%.  Due to the dynamics of desegregation and the movement of workers and work beyond the inner city, there was a decline in occupancy and vacancy rose to one-third capacity in 1965.  By 1971, the reported occupancy for Pruitt-Igoe was reported to be only 600 people in 17 buildings.  The other 16 were boarded up.  Maintenance was never adequate on the occupied buildings due to the inadequate finances of the city in revenue from rent.  Already at a cost of $57 million, the government began to re-organize Pruitt-Igoe and began demolition of buildings to bring down maintenance costs and reduce the building density.  The vacant buildings, not demolished, became dwellings for non-inhabitants and crime and drugs flourished.  It became increasingly difficult to differentiate between legal tenants and illegal tenants.  There were many reports of elevators not working and people trapped in these urine soaked entrapment's.  Murder and violence were commonplace.  City services such as police and fire departments were unwelcome intruders and residents suffered after unanswered calls for help.  It was the worst nightmare a government could have devised.  It started out as newly constructed homes for those who had lived in the slums.  Fresh paint and modern conveniences soon gave way to disease and violence.  Pruitt-Igoe was deemed the worst fiasco of the twentieth century in modern architecture.  It started of with winning "the building of the year" award and was demolished into rubble 22 years later (half a generation).  Due to desegregation, white families moving out of the city, work moving outside the city, raised rents on fixed income tenants, poor upkeep due to lack of revenue internally from the project, initial building cost cuts influenced by union camps, and a deep resentment of racial inequality, vandalism, drugs, crime, and the disorder of the family unit brought on by regulations put in place that father's were not allowed to live within the projects,  the Pruitt-Igoe was doomed to failure and mis-management.  There is an underlying element to the purpose of building such a project.  Yes, revitalization of blighted areas can be a word used but more importantly it cut into the bottom line for business and property values surrounding these slum properties that were replaced by Pruitt-Igoe.  And the government bankrolling the endeavor and shaping the regulations which allowed implementation of such an endeavor was also to blame.  If the human toll can be summarized it could be put this way - when government comes up with a solution it rarely ends well.  And what seems like a good idea now will end in heartache and empty city coffers trying to maintain it.  My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.