Plymouth House

Plymouth House. Neighborhood: Carr Square. "For the first time the people in public housing are consolidated into a power bloc that can get change. I remember three years ago when I took this job how difficult it was to get people organized for any neighborhood action, even just to sign petitions." , -Reverend Buck Jones, 1969, Plymouth House was the organizing hub for tenants of Carr Square and Vaughn public housing during the Rent Strike of 1969. The strike was the culmination of their relentless, but unheeded appeals to local, state, and federal officials to address years of rent hikes, deferred maintenance, and blatant neglect by the St. Louis Housing Authority. , Plymouth House opened in Carr Square on March 5th, 1961 - the third of three neighborhood houses operated by the Federation of Evangelical and Reformed Churches of Greater St. Louis - to serve under-resourced St. Louisans. It was easily accessible by residents of several public housing projects, including the now-demolished Pruitt-Igoe apartments. The neighborhood house hosted recreation activities, holiday events, and community services, including giving some of the first polio vaccinations. , In the 1960s, the St. Louis Housing Authority was in crisis. Cost-of-living was rapidly outpacing inflation, and the population was beginning to decline as predominantly white families moved to mass-manufactured suburban homes. By 1967, the authority had an operating deficit of over $300,000, almost $2.8 million in 2024. Historically, the authority had raised additional operating income by increasing the rents of tenants. These increases, sometimes as much as $160, were particularly challenging to low-income families who often spent up to 80% of their income on rent and, sometimes, were forced to choose between putting food on the table or having a roof over their heads. , The previous and ongoing rent hikes failed to close the Housing Authority's operating gap.