Bagong Silang occupied parts of land originally of Tala Estate, which is historically under the jurisdiction of the town of Novaliches before it was absorbed by Caloocan in 1903.

[3][4][5] The 808-hectare (2,000-acre) estate was reserved and acquired by the government in 1938 primarily for a leprosarium, which turned out to be the Central Luzon Sanitarium (now the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital); however, only one-third of the land was used for such purpose.

[6] Due to advancements in medical science that no longer required the segregation of hansenites, the leprosarium needed lesser land, paving the way for housing and urban development and plans for a tree plantation to supply logs for low-cost housing in present-day Metro Manila, which was ultimately abandoned due to administrative issues under President Ferdinand Marcos.

[8][9] The name of the barangay is a Tagalog phrase corresponding to the English word newborn, meant to signify renewed hope for its residents who were resettled from their original slum areas in Manila, Commonwealth in Quezon City, and San Juan.

It was reported that residents complained that due to the barangay's size, both in terms of land area and population, government services were spread thin.

It became the relocation site of people living in slum areas across the present-day Metro Manila since the 1970s greatly contributing to the barangay's population.