Housing Project

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" administration sought to stave off the worst effects of the Depression. The U.S. government created many large-scale public programs. One of these, authorized in the Housing Act of 1937, established a public works program to provide federally funded residences.

In 1939, the Lowell Housing Authority broke ground for an urban renewal project that forever changed the culture of the city's Greek Americans. Plans for the North Common Village called for hundreds of modern apartments for low-income families and individuals. The Lowell Housing Authority (LHA) did not disclose the location of the new project through most of 1938 and 1939. By June of 1939, when the location was announced, the LHA had already acquired options on property not owned by Greeks. The selection of the area for development meant the demolition of almost 150 structures and the eviction of more than 2000 residents from the heart of the Greek community. With the completion of the North Common Village in 1940, the tight weave of the Greek community enclave in the Acre neighborhood had unraveled.

When neighborhood leaders like Constantine Dukakis and James Karelas learned of the plan to evict Acre residents, they formed the Lowell Anti-Housing Committee. The Committee filed papers in Middlesex Superior Court to prevent the project from destroying their businesses and homes.

Before the case was heard, the Federal Housing Authority awarded $629,000 to the LHA and the LHA began to finalize property purchases. By the time the case was decided, in favor of the LHA, eviction of Greek families was well underway. On December 29,1939, the last family of tenants finally abandoned the core of the Greek Acre. When the new housing was completed in 1940, few people from the Greek community returned to the area. While the housing project provided benefits to the city as a whole, the North Common Village project is remembered for its impact in displacing a cohesive ethnic community.

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