1934, the National Housing Act was established under the New Deal Program created by Franklin Roosevelt. The purpose of the law was to encourage improvement in the housing standards and conditions to provide a system of mutual mortgage insurance.

The Act also created the Federal Housing Administration the FHA as well as the Federal savings and loans corporation known as the FSLIC

approximately half of all home mortgages in the United States were in default, signifying a major crisis in the housing market during the Great Depression.
Key points about this situation:
Impact of the Depression:
The severe economic downturn led to widespread job losses, causing many homeowners to struggle to make mortgage payments and ultimately default on their loans.
Foreclosure rates:
With so many defaults, foreclosures skyrocketed, reaching over 1,000 per day in 1933.

Government response:
To address the housing crisis, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was established in 1934 to stabilize the mortgage market and provide more accessible home loans.

While the New Deal Program sounds like a great idea, most programs discriminated against blacks. NRA National Recovery Administration only offered whites first crack at jobs and authorized separate and lower pay scales for blacks. The FHA refused to guarantee mortgages for blacks who tried to buy in white neighborhoods. It also created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) which established an acreage reduction act, that forced 100,000 blacks off their lands between 1933 and 1934.

Although the New Deal caused harm it did record a few gains. When Roosevelt name Mary Mcleod Bethune a black educator to the advisory committee of the National Youth Administration. Thanks to her blacks received a fair share of YA funds.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) created discrimination through its housing policies, which were detailed in Richard Rothstein's book The Color of Law. The FHA's policies, which included redlining, contributed to segregation and prevented Black families from owning homes and building wealth.

“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to promote the general welfare of the Nation.”

This model shifted the federal government away from construction projects and began supporting loans to local housing authorities.

It also established the Wagner Steagall Act, which established the United States Housing Authority (USHA) and provided federal funding for low-income housing projects, essentially creating the framework for public housing in the United States

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is a federal law that prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status. It's also known as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. which was supposed to protect black buyers and renters from discrimination.


The picture in the background is dated May 26 2023 and comes from a Newspaper called WRAL which stands for "RALeigh, which is the name of North Carolina's capital city. It is a political newspaper that fact-checks political stories.

The Section 8 Program was authorized by Congress in 1974 and developed by HUD to provide rental subsidies for eligible tenant families (including single persons) residing in newly constructed, rehabilitated and existing rental and cooperative apartment projects.

Established on October 6, 1992
it was created by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act,

Pros:
Improved Housing Quality
Mixed-Income Communities
Economic and Social Opportunities
Community Revitalization
Reduction in Crime

Cons:
Displacement of Residents
Gentrification Concerns
Funding and Resource Limitations
Unintended Social Disruptions
The social fabric of some neighborhoods was disrupted as longtime residents were uprooted
While Hope VI brought substantial improvements to certain communities by providing safer, more modern housing and encouraging mixed-income neighborhoods, it also had significant drawbacks, including displacement and the risk of gentrification. Ultimately, the program’s success varied depending on local implementation and broader economic factors.

The purpose of the 1999 Faircloth Amendment was to effectively cap the number of public housing units that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could fund, essentially preventing the construction of new public housing units beyond the level that existed on October 1, 1999, by setting a limit on the number of units a Public Housing Agency (PHA) could own and operate; this effectively halted new public housing construction nationwide.