The start of the housing projects was due to the Depression, which lead to the Harlem riots. Public housing was geared to the poor. That was the initial intention. However, when it was time to allocate the apartments to the people of New York City, they were not given to those that actually need it, the poor and the low income individuals. Instead, there was a screening process to eliminate those that actually need the public housing through looking at people's income. Those that managed to earn a spot at the public housing were middle class people. Therefore, while their intention was to help the poor, the outcome was the opposite due to the need to raise revenue to fund the cost of the resconstruction. It is very ironic.

Also, right now, when I think of the project or public hosuing, instead of middle class people, it is the poor that comes into to mind. This is probably because as the middle class people earn more, they leave the projects for other types of housing that represents more of their middle class status, and with openings at the public housing, lower income families move into the projects (just my speculation).