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- The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) is an agency that provides affordable housing for low-income families in Atlanta. Today, the AHA is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, serving approximately 50,000 people. The AHA was founded in 1938, taking over from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Due to the lobbying of Charles Palmer, an Atlantan real estate developer, Atlanta had been the site of the first public housing project in the country in 1936, Techwood Homes. Early public housing projects such as Techwood and its sister project, University Homes, were built for working-class families on the sites of former slums. Charles Palmer became the AHA's first chairperson, and under him and his successors, the agency continued to clear slums and build public housing complexes. The first phase of construction lasted from 1938 to 1941, and was financed with funds from the Wagner-Steagall Act. The second phase was from 1951 to 1956, using grants funded by the Housing Act of 1949. The final phase took place from 1962 to 1973, with only a few smaller projects completed after that date. During the 70s and 80s, the AHA came under increasing criticism, such as from The Great Speckled Bird, over its management of its complexes, as violence and physical deterioration began to grow. When Atlanta won its bid to host the 1996 Olympics, city leaders worried that the public housing complexes would be an international embarrassment. Under chairperson Renee Glover, the AHA won Federal HOPE VI funding to tear down many of the public housing complexes, including Techwood. After the Olympics, the campaign to tear down Atlanta's public housing continued, and by 2011 all traditional-style units were torn down or sold to private entities. The AHA now provides six primary housing services, most prominently housing vouchers and mixed-income developments. (en)
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