According to the 1940 census, 72 percent of African American households in Savannah lacked plumbing, while 75 percent had no running water, flush toilets, bathtubs, or showers, and 42 percent were severely overcrowded. Carver Village promised a remedy and was developed as one of the first black subdivisions in the United States. The City of Savannah purchased land, commissioned the Byck-Worrell Construction Company to develop the property, and in 1948 extended water and sewer lines to the development. Bergen, known for his work on public housing in Savannah, served as architect, with $2.5 million from the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). The FHA reversed its policy of segregated housing in December 1949, shortly after the project was completed. Carver Heights may thus ironically be one of the country’s first black subdivisions as well as the last federally funded, racially restricted residential areas in the United States. Begun a decade later, Cloverdale, immediately west of Stiles Avenue and south of Blun Avenue (comprising two subdivisions now divided by I-16), was planned as a “new residential community for Savannah Negro families” and forms a notable midcentury suburban neighborhood.