ABSTRACT
Housing for African Americans, both private and public, continued to come only at a premium throughout the 1950s. Although the 26-block area of the Western Addition was originally designed to hold 50 people per acre, by the mid-1950s one newspaper reported that each acre housed 200 or more people (San Francisco News; 1956, Negro Housing Woe). The article also noted that most of the buildings in the Western Addition were designed for three families but that at least 40% housed six or more families who had to share both kitchen and bathroom facilities. The article goes on to state that “Recent surveys have shown how this process had culminated in blight with its consequences, of ill health, accidents, fi res, delinquency, excessive municipal costs and defi cient property revenues” (San Francisco News; 1956, Negro Housing Woe).
