U-Rescue Villa was an

Atlanta Housing Authority The Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) is an agency that provides affordable housing for low-income families in Atlanta. Today, the AHA is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, serving approximately 50,00 ...

public housing complex built in 1970 and torn down in May 2008. It was located at 355 North Avenue N.E., between Central Park and Parkway, in the

Old Fourth Ward The Old Fourth Ward, often abbreviated O4W, is an intown neighborhood on the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site. Geography The Old Fourth Wa ...

neighborhood. It had 70 units and 271 residents at the time of demolition. The name came from a neighborhood organization U.-Rescue which stood for "

Urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

Emergency: Stop, Consider, Understand, Evaluate". U-Rescue fought for the interests of local residents in the face of massive urban renewal plans after 1965. Slums areas such as

Buttermilk Bottom Buttermilk Bottom, also known as Buttermilk Bottoms or Black Bottom, was an African-American neighborhood in central Atlanta, centered on the area where the Atlanta Civic Center now stands in the Old Fourth Ward. It was considered a slum area, h ...

were razed to make way for urban renewal projects such as

Bedford Pine The Old Fourth Ward, often abbreviated O4W, is an intown neighborhood on the eastside of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site. Geography The Old Fourth Wa ...

, but in reality very little low income housing was ever built to replace the housing units that were razed. U-Rescue and other organizations fought to build more low-income housing and U-Rescue Villa was a result of those efforts. The Cosby Spear high-rise is located in the middle of what was the U-Rescue Villa complex and remains standing, housing senior citizens.

External links

Pictures of U-Rescue Villa

References

{{coord, 33.771, -84.375, type:landmark_region:US-GA, display=title Public housing in Atlanta Former neighborhoods of Atlanta Old Fourth Ward Demolished buildings and structures in Atlanta Buildings and structures demolished in 2008