There was a great deal of vacant housing, but tax code made it advantageous to leave them vacant rather than rent them out. There was a great deal of homelessness, and even squatters networks that would put the word out about access points of vacant buildings. This was talked about in The Future Is Unwritten, the bio-pic about Joe Strummer, lead vocalist of the punk-rock group The Clash. Great movie.

because the same mistake was made over here, also, the human scaled neighborhoods that were desperately poor but vibrant and working for people were razed and replaced with those high rises and bricked over, treeless plains that served no one. In those crumbling tenements, mothers could look out the window and see what the children were up to. In the high rises, there was no way.

In the photo you are referring to?

Dear God I hope not!

Early toilets were put outside because of the cost of retrofitting.

The Dow Jones Index was 850. Richard Nixon was President. Times were tough all over. But, the music was glorious.