Edith Elmer Wood was an American advocate for public health and housing reform. Wood was a proponent of the construction of public housing, arguing that overcrowded slums and their associated communicable diseases were not the fault of immoral tenants or landlords, but a systemic economic problem needing solutions at the governmental level. She served in leadership roles for several housing organizations and was an advisor to the United States Housing Authority; her advocacy significantly impacted on the housing reforms implemented in the 1930s and 1940s through the New Deal and the Fair Deal.
