For decades, tenants of Garden Spires have battled rat infestations, raw sewage and drug dealers — leading the affordable housing complex in Newark to represent the worst of the problems plaguing government-subsidized housing in the city and the state. 

Garden Spires opened in the mid 1960s as the city's first high-rise complex built for low-to-moderate income families. But conditions began deteriorating within a few years. 

"Defecation in the hallways; people sleeping in the hallways; there were apartments that were not used that were filled with animals and cats and garbage," said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka of a visit to the more than 500-unit housing complex. "It was probably the worst situation I'd ever seen in my life."

In an op-ed for the Star Ledger, Baraka wrote that the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Municipal Court and the State looked into the conditions — yet owner First King Properties skirted accountability for decades while collecting millions a year in federal subsidies.

Finally in August, after a major push by the Baraka administration, a company led by former Red Sox player Mo Vaughn bought the complex and announced plans to renew it with the assistance of public subsidies. Baraka said this kind of partnership can be a model for the rest of the state.

Baraka spoke to All Things Considered host Sean Carlson.