this may be a dumb question, but why are the projects called the projects...

@cher913 (25781)
Canada
February 24, 2008 11:19am CST
i have heard a lot of references lately to housing developments being called 'projects' and i have wondered why they are called that. i live in canada and this seems to be an american thing...we generally call the poorer section of town by the address such as 'the north end' or the 'jane/finch' area (the street names)... does anyone know? i am just curious...
2 responses
@raydene (9871)
• United States
25 Feb 08
Hi Sweets, Don't quote me but I believe it has something to do with when they started building them they called it the housing project...like they can many projects when in process..It was for low income areas and the name just stuck. oxxoxoxoxo
• Canada
24 Feb 08
Growing up in Ottawa myself, I know what you mean by calling sections of the city by the address, Walkley, Bayshore, etc... but where I grew up, it was called a project. There were three projects on my street. The poorer of the three was 'the hood', then the other two were classified by the street name. It's a good question as to why these housing developments are called projects. I always figured it was because all the houses were the same. Everything looked the same, everyone had the same trees, same coloured doors. Very boring looking really LOL My opinion I believe is that the term 'project' deems the area as a lower income family dwelling than the average single home.