Housing Association of Delaware Valley

The Housing Association of Delaware Valley is the oldest citizen housing agency in the country. The Association was founded in 1909 by some 60 representatives of various social, welfare, and philanthropic agencies. At that time, Philadelphia was just emerging from a period of rapid physical growth and population expansion. During the previous fifty years, the city's population had jumped from approximately 500,000 to over 1.5 million. Many of the newcomers were packed into alley dwellings and crowded tenements. Sanitary arrangements were primitive. Open sewers bordered the streets in many of the older sections of the city. Outside spigots often represented the only water supply. And privies, some 60,000 of them, served a significant proportion of the householders. Stables, pig sties, slaughter houses, and tanneries were common sights in many residential areas. The picture was not an unusual one in that era and was the same in most of our major cities. What was unusual was Philadelphia's response to this problem: the formation, in 1909, of the Philadelphia Housing Commission, renamed the Philadelphia Housing Association in 1917.

In the years since its establishment, the Housing Association has continued to work "for the development of wholesome surroundings and proper home conditions." Its activities cover six major functions: it undertakes research, with emphasis on condition of housing and related population and demographic trends; it maintains a continuing review of public programs in the fields of urban renewal, low rent housing, relocation, and housing code enforcement; it provides information and education to the general public through publications, a training course in housing, tours, meetings, and participation in radio and television programs; it counsels groups and individuals who need guidance in solving local or personal housing problems; it confers and cooperates with public and private agencies that have responsibilities in housing or related fields; and it formulates general policies and programs intended for adoption and implementation by other agencies -- generally governmental bodies.

In 1968, the Philadelphia Housing Association absorbed the smaller Fair Housing Council of Delaware Valley (established in 1962) and adopted fair housing as part of its mission. As a result of that merger, the agency changed its current name, the Housing Association of Delaware Valley.

From the description of Records, 1909-1985. (Temple University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 122618363