John Ihlder was the executive officer of the

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Alley Dwelling Authority and its successor agency the National Capital Housing Authority. Prior to those positions, Ihlder was a reporter for the '' New York Evening Sun'', and he also served for a short time on the Municipal Affairs Committee of the

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

Board of Trade. Ihlder was a strong supporter of

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

, and while directing the Alley Dwelling Authority, he refused to demolish

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

residences until adequate public housing units were available for displaced persons. He also took a stand against white residents of Washington who sought to reserve public housing units for themselves, and ensured that the St. Mary's Court development in

Foggy Bottom Foggy Bottom is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States, located in the city's northwest quadrant. It stretches west of the White House towards the Potomac River, north of the National Mall, east of Georgetown, south of the West ...

would be available for black residents. Later, during the

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

and redevelopment of southwest Washington D.C. in the 1950s, he staunchly opposed plans to reduce the number of affordable housing units in the redevelopment plan. Part of the John Ihlder Papers are at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Fra ...

.John Ihlder Manuscript Collection
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References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing Washington, D.C., government officials {{US-gov-bio-stub