This is how to get the public_html directory working in users directories.
Edit the file /etc/httpd/conf.d/userdir.conf
Uncomment the UserDir line, and change it to:
UserDir enabled
Save the file and restart apache
sudo /sbin/service httpd restart
mkdir ~/public_html
chmod 755 ~
chmod 755 ~/public_html
Create a file called ~/public_html/index.html and put something in it.
