It is difficult to imagine how low-income housing projects with
deplorable conditions and dilapidated structures can be allowed
to exist, given the billions of federal dollars allocated to
state and local housing authorities by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD). Yet projects like Newsome Park near
48th Street and Marshall Avenue in Newport News and the soon-
defunct Harbor Square in Hampton have been plagued by leaking
roofs, bed bug and cockroach infestation, mold problems and a
host of other maintenance nightmares. And there are hundreds of
similar projects, all over the U.S. The original concept of
public housing, dating back to President Franklin Roosevelt's
era, was to provide affordable living spaces for working
families trying to get back on their feet during difficult
economic times. Gradually these complexes were filled by the
swelling population of poverty-level families, including many
single parents barely able to afford even the subsidized rents.
For many tenants, subsidized ho