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Our mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home.

    Case Studies for Truly Public Housing

    Landscape view centered on a high rise building, Millers River Apartments, undergoing renovation, with scaffolding surrounding it. Photo courtesy of Cambridge Housing Authority.

    Paradoxes of Public Housing: The Case of Millers River

    Millers River Apartments, undergoing renovation, March 2020. [Cambridge Housing Authority]

    Exhibition

    • HAI Group Gallery,
      1st Floor

    • Free

    What does it take to create and maintain truly public housing?

    Each year, we invite guest curators to examine a single case study that we believe demonstrates a creative commitment to public housing to learn from housing projects across the country.

    This year, Susanne Schindler and Chris Moyer focus on the other CHA—the Cambridge Housing Authority in Massachusetts. They examine how the CHA performed a series of contradictory maneuvers to completely overhaul their deteriorating housing stock.

    This installation is based on the article “The Case for Truly Public Housing,” published in December 2022 in the journal Places.

    Generous support for Case Studies was provided by the HAI Group.

    What You’ll Learn in this Exhibit

    Ever heard about “tax credits” or “housing vouchers” but never quite understood what they mean? In this exhibit, you’ll learn about common, yet obscure and paradoxical policies and financing tools like these which shape the landscape of public housing in the United States today.

    A video brings the architecture, residents, and caretakers of our case study, Millers River, to life. Protagonists of the building’s renovation speak to maneuvers that were necessary to maintain the building as high-quality low-income housing.

    Five diagrams explain the policy and financing tools used in the maneuvers. Annotations provide further details, historical context, and connections to the architecture of Millers River.

    Millers River Apartments, designed by Benjamin Thompson & Associates, October 1973. Photograph by Ezra Stoller. [Ezra Stoller/Esto]

    An apartment tower rises above a field

    Exhibit panels

    Download the PDF

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    Exhibition Resources

    Additional resources available at the front desk.

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