1932 Federal Home Loan Bank Act1933 Homeowners’ Loan ActNational Industrial Recovery Act of 1933
1934 National Housing Act
U.S. Housing Act of 1937
1933 Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Formed1932 Home Loan Bank Board and Bank System Created
1934 FHA Created
1937 Public Housing Administration
1938 Fannie Mae (FNMA)
HOLC provides privatized mortgage refinancing
1934 FHA 203 and Title I
FNMA (provides secondary market for FHA)
1934 Section 207 Multifamily Insurance1934 Public housing, low rent
Public Housing Construction (60-year loans)
Great Depression
Harry S. Truman
1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
U.S. Housing Act of 1949
1942 National Housing Agency formed
1947 Housing and Finance Agency Formed
1942 Residential construction halted except for war housing. FHA prioritized for war housing: Section 607 and 608
1947 FHA insurance for manufactured housing
FNMA expanded to cover VA loans
Public housing construction expanded
1941-1945 World War II
1942 Federal Rent Control
1944 Veterans loan programs
1949 VA Home Loans expanded, Farmers Home Administration Section 502
Dwight D. Eisenhower
U.S. Housing Act of 1954
FHA insurance for disaster recovery
Urban Renewal
1954 Urban Renewal Expanded; Urban Planning Grants1954 Urban Renewal Administration (formerly Division of Slum Clearance and Urban Development under the HHFA)1955 Public Facility Grants
Multifamily insurance and direct loans expanded
1953 Federal Rent Control ends
1959 Section 232 FHA Insurance for nursing homesSection 202 Direct Loans
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Robert C. Weaver
Robert C. WoodGeorge W. Romney
Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 19651966 Model Cities Act
HUD Act of 19681968 Fair Housing Act
1965 HUD Created
1968 GNMA Created FNMA privatized
1964 Section 312 Direct Rehab Loans1965 Section 115 SF Rehab Grants
1968 Section 235 FHA subsidized mortgages
1961 Open Space Grants
1965 Rehab Grants in Urban Areas: Water and Sewer Grants
1966 Model Cities Grants – coordinate Federal grants in urban areas
1968 New Communities
1961 Section 221(d)(3) BMIR and Direct Loans
1965 Section 23 Leased Housing
1966 Rent Supplement 1967 Public Housing scattered site, turnkey modernization
2016 Smoke Free Rule2016 Small Area Fair Market Rent Rule
2016 National Disaster Resilience Competition2016 Tribal HUD-VASH
the 1930s
Amidst widespread unemployment and financial collapse resulting from the 1929 stock market crash, Congress passed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932, creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) and authorizing loans to private corporations providing housing for low-income families. As the Great Depression eased somewhat and the prospect of improved financial status for individual families increased, the National Housing Act of 1934 was passed to relieve unemployment and stimulate the release of private credit in the hands of banks and lending institutions for home repairs and construction. This law also created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the main federal agency handling mortgage insurance. The FHA's assumption of risk, through its insurance programs, made possible the amortization of mortgage loans with regular monthly payments and a secondary market for home mortgages, thus freeing up funds for home loans. In 1938, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was chartered by the FHA as a subsidiary of the RFC. These early measures stimulated housing construction, and the United States Housing Act of 1937 authorized loans to local public housing agencies for lower-rent public housing construction expenses.
World War II caused a temporary moratorium on U.S. domestic housing construction, except for defense purposes. Legislation during this period, however, had a major impact on housing. The 1944 authorization of the Veterans Administration (VA) home loan program guaranteed millions of single-family and mobile home loans. The increase in housing construction following World War II, which led to the growth of suburban areas, is in part attributable to this financing program. The exodus to the suburbs led to new housing programs for declining urban areas authorized by the Housing Act of 1949. The Act authorized funds to localities to assist in slum clearance and urban redevelopment, new construction, and activities not directly related to housing construction (open space land, neighborhood facilities, and basic water and sewer facilities).
The Housing Act of 1954 amended that of 1949 to provide funding, not just for new construction and demolition, but also for the rehabilitation and conservation of deteriorating areas. This began a gradual shift in emphasis from new construction to conservation, now reflected in current housing policies that encourage rehabilitation. With the 1954 amendment, the term "urban renewal" was expanded to refer to public efforts to revitalize aging and decaying inner cities and some suburban communities.
The Housing Act of 1956 added special provisions under Sections 203 and 207 and the public housing programs to give preference to the elderly, and amended the 1949 Act to authorize relocation payments to persons displaced by urban renewal. Federal involvement in housing rapidly expanded to include the financing of new construction, measures to preserve existing housing resources, and urban renewal.
Executive Order 11063, Equal Opportunity in Housing, issued in 1962, represented the first major federal effort to apply civil rights to housing. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 assured nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs. Equality in housing opportunity was legislated by Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 created HUD as a cabinet-level agency and initiated a leased housing program to make privately owned housing available to low-income families.
The 1970s was a decade of housing policy enterprises meant to eliminate the hazards of lead-based paint poisoning in existing housing; protect the rights of consumers in the areas of interstate land sales and real estate settlement procedures; discourage geographical discrimination in the mortgage lending industry; provide communities with resources to address a wide range of unique development needs; and supply rental subsidies to eligible tenants residing in newly constructed, rehabilitated, and existing rental and cooperative apartment projects (Section 8 Voucher program).
In January 1973, President Nixon declared an 18-month moratorium on approvals for subsidized housing programs, including Sections 235 and 236. The moratorium also applied (as of July 1) to funding for urban renewal, Model Cities, and FHA programs. The moratorium was rescinded in the summer of 1974.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) was created in 1973 and tasked with conducting research on priority housing and community development issues. Features of PD&R's new research program included the American Housing Survey, a regularly maintained database on the characteristics of the nation's housing stock, and the Partnership for Advancing Technologies in Housing Initiatives that identified techniques for building more affordable, durable, disaster-resistant, safe, and energy-efficient housing. PD&R's vehicle for distributing relevant research and information, HUD USER, was launched in 1978 and today is a multi-media resource for housing stakeholders.
The 1980s began with changes in the rules governing thrift institutions and expanding alternative mortgages. It was a time of retrenchment in HUD-funded housing construction programs. Budgetary constraints eliminated Section 8 New Construction and Substantial Rehabilitation programs, but the Section 8 Voucher Demonstration, the Housing Development Action Grant, and Rental Rehabilitation programs were implemented by the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983. Other significant measures to ensure housing opportunities for all addressed the housing needs of Native Americans and Alaskan Indians and the homeless. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) program created affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. The scope of fair housing provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was expanded, giving HUD additional enforcement responsibilities.
Crises characterized the 1990s, much of which related to the cost of expiring Section 8 contracts and deteriorating properties. Several new programs were designed to ensure survival of affordable units and the viability of subsidized housing programs. The Low-Income Housing Preservation and Resident Homeownership Act of 1990 attempted to maintain the supply of affordable housing by offering project incentives to preserve low-income rental properties. HUD faced the high cost of renewing expiring Section 8 contracts. At the crux of the problem, the high cost of FHA-insured mortgages necessitated higher than market-rate rents, making HUD Section 8 subsidies extremely expensive. The Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 restructured these mortgages in order to maintain affordable Section 8 subsidies. HUD was also beset by budgetary pressures and streamlined itself through significant staff cuts, reorganizing operations, and program consolidation.
PD&R continued to facilitate housing research and evaluation activity that would lead to informed decisions on HUD policies, programs, and budget and legislative proposals.
America's homeownership rate reached a new record-high of 69 percent in 2004. HUD worked with public agencies, private partners, nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations to expand the availability of affordable housing, to improve structural and living conditions in HUD-insured and assisted rental housing projects, and to maintain a commitment to wider affordable rental housing opportunities. The Department led a major consumer advocacy initiative to reform outdated and needlessly complex regulatory requirements under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Impetus was also given to sponsoring targeted programs that provided housing and other essential support to special need populations, such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, individuals with HIV/AIDS, and the homeless.
Housing prices peaked in early 2005 and began to decline in the following year. Increased foreclosure rates among U.S. homeowners led to a crisis that adversely effected home valuations and reverberated throughout the nation's mortgage markets, Wall Street hedge fund investments, and the industries of home building, real estate, retail home supply, and banking. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) strengthened and modernized the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government-sponsored enterprises) and the Federal Home Loan Banks. It created a new program at FHA to help families save their homes from foreclosure and established the Neighborhood Stabilization Program with grants for stabilizing communities suffering from foreclosures and abandonment with the purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned homes and residential properties.
Efforts to alleviate the stress on households and communities, caused by the foreclosure crisis and the recession, were extended in 2009 with passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Hearth Act, and Helping Families Save Their Homes Act.
PD&R's research program produced significant analyses on a wide range of housing issues that reflected HUD's priorities.
The decade of the 2010’s in housing began with the recovery from the 2007-2008 economic crisis and mortgage market collapse. Total housing starts (single- and multifamily) remained below one million units per year, well below the pre-crisis levels of over 2 million. FHA played a greatly increased role in assisting private lenders to continue to issue mortgage financing with the share or mortgages with FHA insurance rising to over one-third of the market. While Congress debated further potential reforms for the secondary market, Fannie and Freddie remained in federal conservatorship but took on a larger role in stabilizing the market after Wall Street firms retreated from issuing mortgage securities.
At HUD, the Obama Administration placed a renewed emphasis on affordable rental housing policy, implementing the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative and the Rental Assistance Demonstration aimed at recapitalizing the existing assisted rental stock. There was a renewed emphasis on placed based and comprehensive neighborhood revitalization while increasing mobility options for lower-income families, as well as improved coordination between programs at different federal agencies with similar goals for improving neighborhoods.
HUD also joined with the Veterans Administration to announce a goal of ending homelessness among America’s veterans. Major decreases in veterans’ homelessness were achieved as new program responses received support, including the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program and VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families program.
And HUD played a lead role in the federal task force and providing assistance to the northeast states to rebuild from the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
As the Great Depression eased somewhat and the prospect of improved financial status for individual families increased, the National Housing Act of 1934 was passed to relieve unemployment and stimulate the release of private credit in the hands of banks and lending institutions.
Established the public housing program. In response, state governments pass enabling legislation to create a nationwide network of local public housing agencies. Later amended (in 1974) to add Section 8 - for both tenant-based (Housing Choice Vouchers and project-based assistance).
America's Great Depression is regarded as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash and ending in 1941 with America's entry into World War II.
The increase in housing construction following World War II, led to the growth of suburban areas and to new housing programs for declining urban areas authorized by the Housing Act of 1949.
Following World War II, and continuing into the early 1970s, "urban renewal" referred primarily to public efforts to revitalize aging and decaying inner cities, although some suburban communities undertook such projects as well.
Federal involvement in housing rapidly expanded to include financing of new construction, preservation of existing housing resources, and urban renewal.
Expansion of Urban Renewal. The “workable program” - localities required to adopt comprehensive revitalization plans for receipt of federal economic development aid. Expansion of FHA insurance vehicles to incentivize private development of different types of multifamily housing.
The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 created HUD as a cabinet-level agency and initiated a leased housing program to make privately owned housing available to low-income families.
Section 3 - economic opportunities for low income persons. Section 235 and 236 subsidized mortgages for homeownership and affordable rental housing. New Towns program.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R), created in 1973, was tasked with conducting research on priority housing and community development issues.
Established major rental assistance programs - public housing operating subsidies, Section 8 vouchers and project-based section 8 assistance. Created the CDBG block grant program, consolidating previous “categorical” programs.
The 1980s saw significant measures to ensure housing opportunities for all with new rental programs, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and changes in rules governing thrift institutions.
Landmark legislation for homelessness programs and housing opportunities.
Amended the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities or based on family status.
Created the HOME block grant program. Stabilized the FHA insurance fund. Converted the Section 202 program (elderly housing) to capital grants and rental assistance; added the Section 811 (disabilities) and Shelter Plus Care (permanent supportive housing for the homeless) programs.
Major amendments and reforms to HUD programs (HOME, public housing). Created the Housing for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program.
The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) created the Indian Housing Block Grant program.
The Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and. Affordability Act of 1997, more commonly called “Mark To Market” initiated a series of reforms and cost savings measures to help maintain and preserve the stock of long-term affordable subsidized housing in the Project-based Section 8 program. The primary mechanism for cost savings was through restructuring of FHA-insured multifamily mortgages to reduce debt service costs and thereby achieve reductions in annual Section 8 discretionary spending. The Act also helped strengthen the role of the State Housing Finance Agencies as providers and facilitators of affordable housing across the country.
- retitled as Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998. Public housing and Section 8 voucher reforms. Added PHA Plan requirement. Created the ROSS program.
HUD worked with public agencies, private partners, nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations to expand the availability of affordable housing, to improve structural and living conditions in HUD-insured and assisted rental housing projects, to promote wider affordable rental housing opportunities, and to stabilize and sustain communities.
Consolidated HUD’s homeless programs
Economic stimulus bill in response to recession. Targeted spending on infrastructure, health, affordable housing, education, and energy. Also included tax incentives and expanded unemployment benefits.
Response to subprime mortgage and national financial crisis. Created the FHFA. Improvements in federal regulation of mortgage lending institutions.
Response to the mortgage market collapse and subsequent recession. Made numerous reforms to regulation of mortgage lending and financial institutions. Created the CFPB.
