Federally subsidized public housing in the United States was initiated as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. In 1933 the Public Works Administration began to offer low-interest loans to developers for the construction of low-income housing. In Atlanta some citizens believed that this opportunity could be used to address poor living conditions in the city’s slums and reduce crime and disease. In 1933 developer Charles F. Palmer submitted a proposal to clear the impoverished Techwood Flats neighborhood and replace it with a new housing project. Palmer was granted $2,375,000 in federal funding for the project by the PWA.

Techwood Homes was officially dedicated by President Roosevelt in 1935. The new Techwood Homes complex, which included apartments for 604 families, featured playgrounds, recreational facilities, and a health clinic. Due to federal policy, Techwood Homes was designated as housing for white residents only. Some of the former Black residents who were displaced by the clearance of the Flats were later housed in the all-Black University Homes public housing project, which was intended as a companion project to Techwood Homes; however, many other former residents were never rehoused. The success of Techwood Homes and University Homes led to the passage of the Housing Act of 1937, which established federal subsidies for low-income housing.

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