The call for public housing was met by the federal government with the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 while the Great Depression was taking a toll on the poor and unemployed in America. The government officials in New Orleans were the quickest act and immediately received the funding to build the initial six housing complexes in the city. Once the complexes were complete they were divided among the whites and blacks in the city with the blacks having four of the complexes in the less developed areas of the city. The Iberville Project was one of the two housing complexes the whites were given, named in honor of Pierre Le Moyne, sieur, d’Iberville, one of the founders of Louisiana. During segregation, the Iberville was occupied by whites, while the nearby Lafitte Projects served the black tenants.