For over 20 years, PHAR has been leading a grassroots effort to center the voices of public housing residents in the organization and coordination of their own housing. At a time when federal policy has continued to shift the landscape of public housing and a history of local mismanagement, PHAR has fought diligently to make sure residents are heard. In 2016, PHAR shifted what had been a tense relationship with the publishing of a Resident Directed Positive Vision for Public Housing. This defined a new future for public housing and the people that live there, placing the resident’s strength and knowledge as the focus of the future. In doing so, PHAR has set a paradigm for how public housing redevelopment can and should take place. The goal of this project is to tell the important history, processes, culture, and vitality of these grassroots organizing efforts as public housing residents realize their agency and power.
With the initial project beginning in the Fall of 2020, this project focuses on a collaborative planning and training process that will set a foundation for the initial stages of the oral history project, centering PHAR and public housing residents in these conversations.
This project is funded in part by the Virginia Humanities and the University of Virginia Equity Center.
