Tent City, South End Boston

http://www.southendhistoricalsociety.org/south-end-history-part-iii-urban-renewal/

In the 1950s, the city of Boston began exploring ways to improve certain neighborhoods that they believed were run down, most of which were located in the South End. The Boston Housing Authority reported poor conditions in these neighborhoods such as: disfigurement with the appearance of open garbage dumpsters, ugly houses with falling plaster, cracked exteriors, rickety entrance halls and stairways, as well as dirty rat infested streets. Several years later hundreds of families that lived in these neighborhoods received a notice to move and families were removed and rehoused, or often left homeless. During this period, many buildings were being destroyed but people were tired of being pushed out without the guarantee of affordable housing from the city so some organized and fought for affordable housing.  A famous example is Tent City, which today is a housing development on the corner of Dartmouth Street and Columbus Avenue.  In 1968, the city planned to build a parking garage in this space but the people were frustrated with being displaced by these projects so they protested and protestors occupied the lot, pitched tents, and camped there for three days.  They won, but the city did not build affordable housing until 1988!