Southside
Stop #
4
The National Housing Act of 1934
Urban Renewal in Asheville
Learn about the East Riverside Urban Renewal Project in Asheville that targeted the Black-majority Southside neighborhood.
Learn about the East Riverside Urban Renewal Project in Asheville that targeted the Black-majority Southside neighborhood.
Asheville family at dinner table [1]
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the National Housing Act of 1934 as part of the New Deal. The Housing Act created low-cost home buying, farm buying, home improvement, and farm improvement loans for White people. Homeownership replaced job income as the primary way for middle-class and lower-middle class White families to amass wealth.
Meanwhile, the Housing Act’s unequal policies undermined Black property values and evicted millions of Black people from their homes. The Housing Act authorized seizing and demolishing homes and businesses that it called “blighted.” Nationwide, segregated Black neighborhoods made up the majority of areas targeted for destruction. The Housing Act called for replacing homes, one-for-one, with rental public housing units.
The East Riverside Urban Renewal Project in Asheville targeted the Black-majority Southside neighborhood. The homes of half of Asheville’s Black residents were demolished. Roads were re-routed. The majority of Black residents were moved into public housing.
