The Subsistence Homesteads Division (or Division of Subsistence Homesteads, SHD or DSH) of the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

was a New Deal agency that was intended to relieve industrial workers and struggling farmers from complete dependence on factory or agricultural work. The program was created to provide relatively low-cost homesteads, including a home and small plots of land that would allow people to sustain themselves. Through the program, 34 communities were built. Unlike

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

, subsistence homesteading is based on a family member or members having part-time, paid employment.

Philosophy

The subsistence homesteading program was based on an agrarian, "back-to-the-land" philosophy which meant a partial return to the simpler, farming life of the past. Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt both endorsed the idea that for poor people,

rural life In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

could be healthier than city life. Cooperation, community

socialization In sociology, socialization or socialisation (see spelling differences) is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cul ...

, and community work were also emphasized. However, going "back-to-the-land" did not always sit well with people stuck in outlying "stranded communities" without jobs. According to Liz Straw of the Tennessee Historical Commission, the most controversial were those rural communities of long-unemployed miners or timber workers whom opponents of subsistence homesteading thought unlikely to thrive without better job opportunities.

Definition and description

In response to the Great Depression, the Subsistence Homesteads Division was created by the federal government in 1933 with the aim to improve the living conditions of individuals moving away from overcrowded urban centers while also giving them the opportunity to experience small-scale farming and home ownership. Subsistence Homesteads Division Director, Milburn L. Wilson, defined a "subsistence homestead" as follows:

A subsistence homestead denotes a house and out buildings located upon a plot of land on which can be grown a large portion of foodstuffs required by the homestead family. It signifies production for home consumption and not for commercial sale. In that it provides for subsistence alone, it carries with it the corollary that cash income must be drawn from some outside source. The central motive of the subsistence homestead program, therefore, is to demonstrate the economic value of a livelihood which combines part-time wage work and part-time gardening or farming.

DSH projects "would be initiated at the state level and administered through a nonprofit corporation. Successful applicants were offered a combination of part-time employment opportunities, fertile soil for part-time farming, and locations connected to the services of established cities." The homesteads were organized to combine the benefits of rural and urban living - communities meant to demonstrate a different path towards a healthier and more economically secure future.

History

The Division of Subsistence Homesteads was created by the Secretary of the Interior as an order to fulfill the

National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also ...

. Milburn Lincoln Wilson, then belonging to the USDA's Agricultural Adjustment Administration, was selected by President Frank D. Roosevelt to lead the new Division under Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes. Wilson and his advisory committee determined that they wanted the project to prioritize areas hit especially hard by Depression. Initially, the cost of the houses was not to exceed $2,000 and the homesteads would fall under the administration of the Division and local non-profit corporation created specifically for the community. The same year, Carl Cleveland Taylor, the 36th President of the American Sociological Society, was appointed sociologist with the SHD. Some of the subsistence homesteading communities included African Americans; Assistant Supervisor John P. Murchison wrote to W. E. B. Du Bois in April 1934 for advice on racial integration and how to incorporate African Americans into the program.

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

took personal interest in the project, and became involved in setting up the first community, Arthurdale, WV after a visit to the stranded miners of

Scotts Run Scotts Run, formerly Scotts Run Station, is a mixed-use development featuring offices, apartments, hotels, retail stores, and restaurants in Tysons, Virginia being developed by Cityline Partners, LLC. Description Scotts Run is split into two sec ...

. There was strong opposition to the idea of subsistence homesteads, as undercutting agricultural prices, unions, and the labor supply for manufacturing. Nonetheless, as of 2011, some communities, such as

Arthurdale, West Virginia Arthurdale is an unincorporated community in Preston County, West Virginia, United States. It was built in 1933, at the height of the Depression as a social experiment to provide opportunities for unemployed local miners and farmers. Arthurdale wa ...

, in which Eleanor Roosevelt was personally involved, maintain an active memory of the program.WGBH/''American Experience''. ''Eleanor'' enhanced transcript
1999. By March 1934, 30 projects had been started. Twenty-one were considered garden-home projects, two were full-time farming projects near urban areas, five were for unemployed miners and two were combinations of the aforementioned types. In June 1935, the powers granted to DSH under the National Industrial Recovery Act expired. On April 30, Executive Order No. 7027 had created the

Resettlement Administration The Resettlement Administration (RA) was a New Deal U.S. federal agency created May 1, 1935. It relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government. On September 1, 1937, it was succeeded by the Farm S ...

; part of their mandate gave them authority "to administer approved projects involving resettlement of destitute or low-income families from rural and urban areas, including the establishment, maintenance and operation, in such connection, of communities in rural and suburban areas." By another Executive Order (No. 7530), the Subsistence Housing Project was transferred from the Department of Interior to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1936. By the next year, the program had been transferred once again, this time to the Federal Public Housing Authority, where it was formally abolished. Various architects including

Mary Almy Mary Almy (1883–1967) was an American architect, and a partner at Howe, Manning & Almy, Inc., one of the first architecture firms founded by women in the United States and specializing in domestic architecture. She studied architecture at t ...

, helped design the buildings and homes built under the project.

List of Subsistence Homesteads Division communities

These communities were planned and built:

Current status

Of the communities listed, five are considered national or local historic districts, including Aberdeen Gardens (VA), Arthurdale (WV), Phoenix Homesteads (AZ), Tupelo Homesteads (MS), Cahaba Homesteads/ Slagheap Village (AL), and Tygart Valley Homesteads (WV).

References

* *

Communities

of the

, the Division of Subsistence Homesteads, and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, from the National New Deal Preservation Association *

External links

{{Authority control New Deal agencies United States Department of the Interior agencies Defunct agencies of the United States government Former United States Federal assistance programs Urban agriculture Garden suburbs Rural community development Planned communities in the United States Public housing in the United States Intentional communities in the United States 1933 establishments in the United States 1935 disestablishments in the United States Decentralization Government agencies established in 1933 Government agencies disestablished in 1935 Settlement schemes in the United States