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1936 › Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) › Housing and slum clearance
Extend the federal housing program toward adequate housing for those in slums; encourage private building
pledge_forwarddirectional_stancecandidate_directevidence A Infrastructure & Public WorksRelief, Welfare & Social Insurance similar solutions · similar reasoning
Solution
Steadily extend the government's housing program for people of meagre incomes while encouraging private home construction; 'the wiping out of slums.'
Rationale
People 'are entitled to decent, adequate housing at a price which they can afford'; two million homes had been saved from foreclosure.
Statements (2)
We believe every encouragement should be given to the building of new homes by private enterprise; and that the Government should steadily extend its housing program toward the goal of adequate housing for those forced through economic necessities to live in unhealthy and slum conditions.
for sounder home financing, for better banking, for the regulation of security issues, for reciprocal trade among nations, for the wiping out of slums. For all these we have only just begun to fight.
Follow-through
kept
The Wagner-Steagall Housing Act (Sept. 1, 1937) created the U.S. Housing Authority to subsidize local public housing; the November 1937 message and the 1938 FHA amendments pushed private construction, and FHA insurance authority was raised to $3 billion in December 1938.
Mechanisms
| Date | Type | Name | Effect | Consistent? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937-09-01 | statute | United States Housing Act of 1937 (Wagner-Steagall) | Federal subsidies to local housing authorities.provided for subsidies to be paid from the United States federal government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to improve living conditions for low-income families. | yes | Housing Act of 1937 - Wikipedia |
| 1937-11-27 | message | Message on private construction of housing | FHA liberalization to revive private building.From the point of view of widespread and sustained economic recovery, housing constitutes the largest and most promising single field for private enterprise. | yes | Message to Congress on Legislation for Private Construction of Housing. |
| 1938-12-13 | executive_order | FHA insurance authorization raised to $3 billion | More mortgage insurance capacity.I hereby approve an increase of $1,000,000,000 in the amount of outstanding principal of mortgages which may be insured by the Federal Housing Administration, making an aggregate of $3,000,000,000. | yes | Letter on the Federal Housing Administration |
Assessments
Public housing for low-income families began; private construction recovered in 1939-40.
Other positions on this issue
- Slum clearance and modern housing for the urban poor as a "human necessity" among public works — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1932 directional_stance
1936-fdr-housing-and-slum-clearance · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed