The Pruitt-Igoe film showed the possible outcomes of public housing projects, both good and bad. It explored the intentions and policies related to Pruitt-Igoe and how these impacted the experience of residents and the community. It showed the issues that led to the eventual downfall of the housing project. I thought it was disheartening to hear some of the terrible things these people experienced and I wanted to know what had gone so wrong.

Many of the original ideas, policies, intentions, and hopes for Pruitt-Igoe were positive and beneficial to the people who lived there. It was designed to give better homes to people living in slum conditions. Some of the testimonials in the film explain how great the living conditions were when they first moved in. I thought it was interesting to hear that one woman even thought these good memories were great enough to overshadow the bad ones. I believe the experiences that people had in this early stage at Pruit-Igoe were close to what everyone had envisioned for it. Unfortunately they didn’t last.

I believe that the general idea for Pruitt-Igoe was right but there were certain policies and concepts that prevented it from reaching its potential and led to its decline. The first of these was the concept of racial segregation that was involved in the creation of Pruitt-Igoe. I think that the idea that the buildings were being used to keep impoverished black people away from white people encouraged hostility. This was detrimental to the environment and attitude in Pruitt-Igoe.

Another policy that harmed Pruitt-Igoe was expressed in the testimonial describing the father that wasn’t allowed to live with his family in Pruitt-Igoe. I understand that the government didn’t want to waste resources helping people who they perceived as not needing as much help but I believe this policy would have had very negative impacts on the community in Pruitt-Igoe. As we discussed earlier in class, a problem with some low income housing projects has been a disproportionate number of children compared to adults. There are not enough adults to supervise the children so the children begin to cause trouble. This policy only would have contributed to this problem. In addition, because the father lived with the family secretly, this could have encouraged impressionable children to disobey authority figures.

Unfortunately, these issues and others, such as decreased funding for maintenance and increased rent, eventually caused the decline of Pruitt-Igoe to the point where it was dangerous and needed to be destroyed. I do believe that things could have turned out differently that things been done differently early on. I think it serves as an example of what should and should not be done in relation to public housing.