The city government, having allowed the neighborhood of Pat Ward’s Bottoms to reach this dilapidated state through neglect, decided to raze the so-called “blighted” region and redevelop it. Flanner House purchased the land for its self-help housing project, but only a handful of the area’s previous tenants were accepted into the program. The rest of the residents were displaced and Flanner House Homes built fewer than 200 houses, hardly enough to solve the housing crisis.

Image Courtesy of Indiana Historical Society.