Boston Housing Authority

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Description: Retrospective of fifty years of the Boston Housing Authority, the largest landlord in the city, and one of the largest such agencies in the country. 50th anniversary ball at Park Plaza Hotel; guests include Doris Bunte, Edward Brooke, Byron Rushing, Michael Dukakis, Mel King, Ray Flynn, Bruce Bolling, William Bulger, Harry Spence. Interviews on BHA history include Lewis Weinstein, Joseph Slavet, Paul Garrity, Peter Dreier. Scenes of squalor inside housing projects. Many families remain residents for generations. Tenants' class action suit led by Armando Perez. On the need for racial integration, Doris Bunte says “separate always means separate and unequal.” Scenes of the city's subsidized developments in varying degrees of neglect or renovation. Examples of the breadth and density of the projects. Archival film and stills. Compiled from five-part series from 11/1986. ,Harris