The National Act of 1934, , , also called the Better Housing Program, was part of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

passed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in order to make

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

and home

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pur ...

more affordable. It created the

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a Independent agencies of the United States government, United States government agency founded by Pr ...

(FHA) and the

Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) was an institution that administered deposit insurance for savings and loan institutions in the United States. History Establishment The FSLIC was established by the National Housing Act ...

(FSLIC). The Act was designed to stop the tide of bank foreclosures on family homes during the

. With this, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used this act to fulfill his goal towards a government program funded by private investments, avoiding the reliance on taxpayer funds. The passing of the bill alleviated unemployment by making credit more accessible through banks and lending organizations. Both the FHA and the FSLIC became the main federal agencies that worked to create the backbone of the mortgage and home building industries, until the 1980s. The FHA's guarantee against losses for mortgage lenders allowed for a system of regular monthly mortgage payments. The FHA mortgage insurance program became an effective strategy for increasing investment in the mortgage market and still continues to be. These policies had disparate impacts on Americans along segregated lines :

Author Richard Rothstein says the housing programs begun under the New Deal were tantamount to a "state-sponsored system of segregation." The government's efforts were "primarily designed to provide housing to white, middle-class, lower-middle-class families," he says. African-Americans and other people of color were left out of the new suburban communities — and pushed instead into urban housing projects.

The

Housing Act of 1937 The Housing Act of 1937 (), formally the "United States Housing Act of 1937" and sometimes called the Wagner–Steagall Act, provided for subsidies to be paid from the United States federal government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to ...

built on this legislation.

References

External links

National Housing Act
as amended
PDFdetails
in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collectionPublic Law 73-479, 73d Congress, H.R. 9620, National Housing Act of 1934
{{New Deal 1934 in American law 73rd United States Congress New Deal legislation Public housing in the United States United States federal housing legislation Mortgage legislation Redlining June 1934 in the United States

References

Further reading

External links