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 an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

was a

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 ...

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 low-rent 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 crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...

, subsistence homesteading is based on a family member or members having part-time, paid employment. However the new residents were not allowed to purchase the new homes.

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 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

both endorsed the idea that for poor people, rural life could be healthier than city life.

Cooperation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...

, community

socialization In sociology, socialization (also socialisation – see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the process of Internalisation (sociology), internalizing the Norm (social), norm ...

, 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 e ...

. 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 The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

, was appointed sociologist with the SHD. Some of the subsistence homesteading communities included

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

; Assistant Supervisor John P. Murchison wrote to

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

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 longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

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. 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 area, unincorporated community in Preston County, West Virginia, United States. It was built in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression as a social experiment to provide op ...

, 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, 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 The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progre ...

, 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