Among its important qualities, the First Houses is both historically and architecturally significant. It was the first public, low-income housing project in the nation. It was the first project undertaken by the newly established New York City Authority. It was the first municipally sponsored and operated project which endeavored to deal with housing problems of the Lower East Side. It was unusual in that it began as an experimental program in partial demolition and rehabilitation of existing tenements on the site. It was financed in part by the issuance of Housing Authority bonds. Labor and materials were furnished under the “work-relief” program of a Federal agency.