Detroit Public Housing History & Legacy Memoirs...

Parkside Homes was the first federally-subsidized low-rent housing development built in Detroit, the first of a half-dozen projects completed in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Parkside was a response to Detroit's severe housing shortage and growing "Slum" problem during this era.

(Former) Mayor John W. Smith created the Detroit Housing Commission on November 22, 1933 to enable the city to use a Federal Emergency Housing Corporation allocation of $3.2 million to Detroit for "slum clearance.

The Michigan legislature initially defeated a bill to authorize a DHC in December 1933, but passed an amended version in early January 1934, granting the governor the power to appoint the Commission members.

New housing construction by private contractors stopped between 1929-1946.

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