Soon it became a place of despair, and Desire eventually evolved into a dark no-man's land, leaving many residents infested with problems and little or no help from the government.

[3] Starting in the late 1960s, most of the crime was from the residents having few legal economic opportunities and thus fighting for the income made available by the heroin trade.

Desire's alleys and courts became a place where former residents would claim that life was often considered worth less than a pair of basketball shoes.

[7][failed verification] According to the United States Census Bureau, the district has a total area of 0.22 square miles (0.6 km2), all of which is land, with none covered by water.

[9] Two elementary schools, Robert R. Moton and Henderson H. Dunn, were included in the construction of the Desire Housing Project.

In addition to the actual buildings being borderline uninhabitable, the surrounding area was isolated and lacked basic essentials for residents such as stores, churches, and bus routes.

[1] Children resorted to playing outside in the mud surrounded by broken glass, old shoes and the remains of drug deals.

[1] 1949-Federal Government program gives $300 million to public housing authorities to clear inner-city slums and build ever-bigger projects, including high-rises to span throughout the 50s and 60s.

[1] Several other buildings were cleared to make room, including the Hideaway Club, where Fats Domino played regular gigs.

1956- April 9-Six weeks before Desire opened, Tenants Association reports stated that “It is undesirable, for many reasons and finally that it is unsafe for human habitation”.

[1] 1970-Largest, poorest housing development in New Orleans 1970-2 spectacular shootouts by Black Panther Party and police authorities from the local, state, and federal levels.

[1] 1987-Congress passes a law mandating that torn-down housing units be replaced on a one-for-one basis, low-income housing- leaving Desire left to decay.

1993-A triple killing leaves three bullet-riddled bodies at the end of a strip of the complex referred to at the time as “Cocaine Alley.”[11] 1994-HANO's reputation declines as HUD conducts a general audit visiting 150 units in a random sample.

21,000 outstanding work orders which had been backlogged for routine maintenance, holes in the walls and ceilings, loose and peeling paint, steady leaks from the faucets, roach infestations.

Local out of state congressmen raised objections about the Desire plan and challenged the site's usefulness for public housing.

[1] Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine The Black Panthers set up a New Orleans chapter in 1970 by establishing themselves in the Desire Housing Projects which lasted for about three months.

[1] This encouraged residents support the Panthers in their time of need as they placed themselves between the power group headquarters and the authorities during a raid in November 1970.

About fifteen minutes from arrival shots could be heard from machine guns as well as automatic rifles aimed at the Panther headquarters.

Robert H. Tucker, Jr. assisted Mayor Moon Landrieu and made official reports about the standards of living in the Desire projects.

They stated “Life in any multi-family structure for the low income family is a very difficult proposition to say the least.” After this report the Desire could be known as one of the worst public housing projects ever put into place.

Tucker saw children who would swim in clogged sewers, as well as families who were scared to leave their homes at night because of assault, robbery, muggings, and rape.

The results of this report by Tucker were an eleven pointed plan weeks before the shootout given to the mayor in attempts to change some conditions in Desire for the better.

This film Desire documents a five-year collaborative effect between Julie Gustafson and a group of teenage girls from New Orleans completed in 2005 before Hurricane Katrina.

It starts in the Desire Housing Projects with girls who are taught to make videos about their lives discussing what they want out of life and if they think they will get it.

[17] The 2007 crime film Waters Rising features two Hurricane Katrina evacuees, criminal brothers from the Desire Projects named Gangsta (Michael Anthony Jackson) and Killer (Andrae Noel).

[18][19] The 2006 documentary Welcome to New Orleans, featuring Malik Rahim (Donald Guyton) who survived the Desire shootout and Desert Storm veteran Dennis Kyne, shares the story of almost 20,000 volunteers saving Algiers after Hurricane Katrina.