The History of HUD Housing Projects in Connecticut

Dear Neighbor:

Public housing plots were originally built to house segregated sects of young, middle class whites and blacks: but the projects became the home of mostly African American inhabitants as Connecticut’s white population fled for the suburbs.

 Father Panic Village

{Father Panik Village was a housing project located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Ground was broken in 1939, and it opened as Yellow Mill Village, the first public housing project in the state of Connecticut. The Village was renamed in honor of Father Stephen Panik in 1955, a Catholic priest from Saints Cyril and Methodius Church who campaigned for affordable housing. As it was built during World War II, the Bridgeport NAACP and local citizens rallied for this project to be built in 1939.}

After the civil riots in Hartford, Connecticut: nearby factories closed leaving many working class residents out of work, Poverty and crime began to infect North Hartford like a racially transmitted disease. The “white Flight” left only the poorest residents –unemployed and on public assistance eligible to apply for public housing.

In the 1970’s eligibility requirements were changed that allowed only low-income residents to apply for public housing. The Federal Government created “Created Contagious Housing “to address the civil issue of segregated housing in Connecticut. Mismanagement by City and Federal officials which included both incompetence and illegal kickback schemes contributed to the deterioration of public housing. 

The design of public housing plots added to the problems: the common hallways in the project’s design, allowed easy entry and exit from several different directions and made it a perfect haven for drug dealers who needed to get in and out quickly.

In the 1980’s the emergence of crack cocaine and heroin and the projects proximity to Connecticut’s highways and turnpikes made the projects attractive to those from the suburbs seeking to purchase drugs. Public housing soon became a feeding ground for drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps. 

Public housing in Connecticut has always been the site of frequent gunfire, drug dealing and chronic violence. “Homicide Hartford” is a nickname often used to describe the capital city’s violent lure. All through Connecticut Public Housing’s reputation has fed off its legendary gang activity and made Connecticut a dangerous place to live.

Public housing in Connecticut has become a war zone: vacated apartments, gutted by vandals who have broken through walls to steal copper from water pipes and aluminum from the window casings. Homeless people use the empty apartments for overnight shelters. Court yards are covered with broken glass and discarded needles were green grass once grew.