Housing Act 1949: Urban Renewal Destroys More Black Homes Than It Builds

The Housing Act of 1949 authorizes $1 billion for urban renewal. In practice, cities use the law to demolish Black neighborhoods and replace them with civic centers, universities, hospitals, and luxury housing. A 1964 study finds that urban renewal has demolished four times as many low-cost housing units as it has built. Sixty-three percent of families displaced by urban renewal are non-white. Martin Luther King Jr. calls urban renewal 'Negro removal.' The law creates no right to return for displaced residents.