A century of overcrowded homes: How we reported the story and what’s next
A century of overcrowded homes: How we reported the story and what’s next
“The only way the public can be aware of the real problems we face is by showing them themselves,” says Mary Robinson, the architect of the new home project. Photo: Associated Press
“I have been involved in the planning of some of the most ambitious modernist housing in the country for 40 years,” says Mary Robinson, the architect of the new Home in the sky project in Seattle. “I think it’s a tremendous achievement.”
Related Content
A century ago, this land was home to a thriving community of African-American residents. When the federal government decided to move them to a site farther away, Seattle held a referendum. The city’s plan is very much of an optimistic view today.
The population of African-Americans in Seattle is at a record low. The Seattle Housing Department has had to construct more public housing and more Section 8 vouchers to cover the growing numbers of people who can’t afford homes.
The city’s plans for the new Home in the Sky housing development, for example, are to reduce the number of units and add more high-density designs. This is important because the number of families who are living in city-controlled housing — the number of public-housing residents — is climbing.
In 1900 and 1940, less than 1 percent of the people in Seattle were black. Today, 1 out of every 14 residents is black. The percentage has dropped in some of the nation’s fastest-growing cities.
In this story, we look at how a new housing project in Seattle is attempting to address the problem of what urban planners call the urban “clam”—the large families with children who live in housing on a small piece of land.
How the city has managed to overcome this challenge is remarkable.
It starts with the people who live in the area.
“The city has done an extraordinary job of building a community that is racially integrated,” says Peter G. Sain, a former president of the Seattle Housing Board. “If you look at the history of Seattle in the late 1800s and early 1900s, you’ve got the largest influx of African-Americans in the nation, and Seattle has grown into
