A row of boarded-up, vacant apartments line Heaton Street in the Harriet Tubman housing development in this file photo.For the first time in its 73-year history, the Chattanooga Housing Authority is putting more low-income residents in private rentals than in public housing.
The shift is part of a national trend away from deteriorating public housing developments that have become too costly to maintain. And the milestone in Chattanooga is a sign of even more changes to come for a safety net that the poor have relied on since College Hill Courts, the city’s first public housing development, was built in 1941.
“It’s not tomorrow, but sometime in the very near future public housing as we know it will no longer exist,” said Eddie Holmes, CHA’s board chairman.
The number of public housing units available in Chattanooga dropped from 3,692 in 1999 to 2,952 this year as deteriorating facilities were torn down or otherwise became unusable.
Edward Steiner Apartments, which has 50 units, is scheduled for demolition this year. When the site is rebuilt, only 24 units will be allocated as public housing.