In general, public housing refers housing units constructed and managed by government for low-income households. The first comprehensive federal public housing program was enacted by Congress in 1937, in which local housing authorities were created to develop and administer the program. The Authority currently manages and maintains 346 public housing developments with 181,000 units housing nearly 535,000 residents including an estimated 105,000 persons living doubled up. The Authority manages new construction and rehabilitation of public housing buildings and units. Homeless and domestic violence victims are a high priority group.
Social services are available in an number of the developments.