Organizations like the Hill Neighborhood Union were formed in response to housing policy in the 1960s which was displacing huge swaths of Black families to make space for developments aimed at suburban, white families. Every Tuesday night, the group met to “becom[e] more educated about the process of urban renewal and the citizen participation guidelines put forward” by the city government. The HNU wanted to make sure that the city did not make decisions about urban renewal without the input and approval of the neighborhoods who were being redesigned and the communities who were being displaced. The union served to build consciousness and support for events like the 1965 rent strikes and the Hill Cooperative Housing (also featured in this exhibit!).

Aside from supporting the 1965 Rent Strike and the Hill Cooperative Housing, the HNU served as a model showing that, with collective action and community, housing could look radically different and could actually meet the needs of New Haveners.

Model City Blues