Following a national trend, public housing stock has since fallen here from 2,032 to 1,977 units from demolitions. Tearing down Lansdowne, along with additional plans to raze Samuel Gompers Homes, will put a significant hole in the inventory.

“This is part of our continuing planning process to evaluate all of our portfolio,” Motley said.

She said most Lansdowne residents have been moved to other public housing spaces in East St. Louis. She said all of the demolished units at Lansdowne won’t be replaced and she wasn’t sure what would become of the site.

The towers are in a residential area on the city’s northern edge, surrounded by vacant lots, overgrowth and some occupied homes.

“At first it was good,” said Leon Allen, 79, originally from Mississippi, who moved to the area in the early 1970s. “Now there is something of everything going on over there. When I moved here, it was senior citizens. Now it’s all kinds of citizens.”

The closest school isn’t doing better. Nelson Mandela Elementary School sits empty with a lot of broken and boarded-up windows.