Substandard housing has a profound impact on families, communities, and society. This dissertation explores the public health implications of factors that led to the condemnation of the Forest Cove Apartments in the Thomasville Heights neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The socio-ecological model was utilized to frame relationships between policies and institutions, environmental conditions, community influences, interpersonal relationships, and aggregated individual factors related to the lifecycle of Forest Cove from conceptualization to condemnation. Data sources include population-level demographic data, historical archives, newspaper and print media publications, and public records. Data was coded according to socio-ecological level themes using NVIVO software. Study deliverables include a chronological and detailed narrative of the Forest Cove Lifecycle, a description of the nested and intersectional public health implications at socio-ecological layers, and policy and programmatic action recommendations. Findings from this work could guide future actions related to managing low-income housing and supporting residents of these communities when a housing complex is identified as “needing rehabilitation” or as “uninhabitable.”