The movement to construct public housing in Atlanta began during the early 1930s. Charles Palmer, an conservative real estate developer, became concerned with the threat to property values posed by shantytowns so close to downtown. Similar concerns were being expressed among the African-American elite, who disliked the physical proximity of Atlanta University to the slum known as Beaver Slide. Palmer embarked on several tours of European countries to examine their public housing programs, and heavily lobbied Washington to begin constructing public housing in the United States. Despite his opposition to the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was only with the creation of the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 that Palmer was able to win approval for a public housing project, to be built in Techwood Flats.