Southwest Urban Renewal Area, 1955

After World War II, federal legislation facilitated the demolition of urban neighborhoods throughout the United States by subsidizing projects that coupled slum clearance with the construction of low-cost public housing. Although the Housing Act of 1954 provided funds for projects that retained and rehabilitated existing buildings, condemnation and land disposal
were already well underway in Southwest D.C.

© (1959) The Washington Post (Vic Casamento), Reprinted with Permission