Kennedy Homes: an American Tragedy

In the early morning hours of October 6, 2003, an electrical fire erupted in the D building at the Kennedy Homes Apartment Complex in Gainesville, Florida, causing the evacuation of its 142 families, 98% of whom were African-American. The fire was strikingly similar to a fire in the A building three years before. The owners, who received nearly a million dollars annually from HUD to operate the facility for low-income families, gave assurances that the complex would be properly repaired and that