I. NATIONAL POLICY AND PURPOSE See also: "Policy, statements of" and "Purpose, statements of" in Index for additional statements in laws authorizing specific programs. EXCERPT FROM THE HOUSING ACT OF 1949 [Public Law 171, 81st Congress; 63 Stat. 413; 42 U.S.C. 1441] DECLARATION OF NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY SEC. 2. The Congress hereby declares that the general welfare and security of the Nation and the health and living standards of its people require housing production and related community development sufficient to remedy the serious housing shortage, the elimination of substandard and other inadequate housing through the clearance of slums and blighted areas, and the realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family, thus contributing to the development and redevelopment of communities and to the advancement of the growth, wealth, and security of the Nation. The Congress further declares that such production is necessary to enable the housing industry to make its full contribution toward an economy of maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. The policy to be followed in attaining the national housing objective hereby established shall be: (1) private enterprise shall be encouraged to serve as large a part of the total need as it can; (2) governmental assistance shall be utilized where feasible to enable private enterprise to serve more of the total need; (3) appropriate local public bodies shall be encouraged and assisted to undertake positive programs of encouraging and assisting the development of well-planned, integrated residential neighborhoods, the development and redevelopment of communities, and the production, at lower costs, of housing of sound standards of design, construction, livability, and size for adequate family life; (4) governmental assistance to eliminate substandard and other inadequate housing through the clearance of slums and blighted areas, to facilitate community development and redevelopment, and to provide adequate housing for urban and rural nonfarm families with incomes so low that they are not being decently housed in new or existing housing shall be extended to those localities which estimate their own needs and demonstrate that these needs are not being met through reliance solely upon private enterprise, and without such aid; and (5) governmental assistance for decent, safe, and sanitary farm dwellings and related facilities shall be extended where the farmowner demonstrates that he lacks sufficient resources to provide such housing on his own account and is unable to secure necessary credit for such housing from other sources on terms and conditions which he could reasonably be 1 See Excerpts from the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, infra. expected to fulfill. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and any other departments or agencies of the Federal Government having powers, functions, or duties with respect to housing, shall exercise their powers, functions, or duties under this or any other law, consistently with the national housing policy declared by this Act and in such manner as will facilitate sustained progress in attaining the national housing objective hereby established, and in such manner as will encourage and assist (1) the production of housing of sound standards of design, construction, livability, and size for adequate family life; (2) the reduction of the costs of housing without sacrifice of such sound standards; (3) the use of new designs, materials, techniques, and methods in residential construction, the use of standardized dimensions and methods of assembly of home-building materials and equipment, and the increase of efficiency in residential construction and maintenance; (4) the development of well-planned, integrated, residential neighborhoods and the development and redevelopment of communities; and (5) the stabilization of the housing industry at a high annual volume of residential construction. Approved July 15, 1949. EXCERPT FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT [Public Law 89-174, 79 Stat. 667, 5 U.S.C. 624] DECLARATION OF PURPOSE SEC. 2. The Congress hereby declares that the general welfare and security of the Nation and the health and living standards of our people require, as a matter of national purpose, sound development of the Nation's communities and metropolitan areas in which the vast majority of its people live and work. To carry out such purpose, and in recognition of the increasing importance of housing and urban development in our national life, the Congress finds that establishment of an executive department is desirable to achieve the best administration of the principal programs of the Federal Government which provide assistance for housing and for the development of the Nation's communities, to assist the President in achieving maximum coordination of the various Federal activities which have a major effect upon urban community, suburban, or metropolitan development; to encourage the solution of problems of housing, urban development, and mass transportation through State, county, town, village, or other local and private action, including promotion of interstate, regional, and metropolitan cooperation; to encourage the maximum contributions that may be made by vigorous private homebuilding and mortgage lending industries to housing, urban development, and the national economy; and to provide for full and appropriate consideration, at the national level, of the needs and interests of the Nation's communities and of the people who live and work in them. Approved September 9, 1965. 1"Department of Housing and Urban Development" was substituted for "Housing and Home Finance Agency and its constituent agencies" by Public Law 90-19, approved May 25, 1967, 81 Stat. 17. BASIC LAWS ON HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Excerpts From the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 [Public Law 90-448, 82 Stat. 476, 601; 12 U.S.C. 1701t and 42 U.S.C. 1441a] AN ACT To assist in the provision of housing for low and moderate income families, and extend and amend laws relating to housing and urban development. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968". DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 2. The Congress affirms the national goal, as set forth in section 2 of the Housing Act of 1949, of "a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family." The Congress finds that this goal has not been fully realized for many of the Nation's lower income families; that this is a matter of grave national concern; and that there exist in the public and private sectors of the economy the resources and capabilities necessary to the full realization of this goal. The Congress declares that in the administration of those housing programs authorized by this Act which are designed to assist families with incomes so low that they could not otherwise decently house themselves, and of other Government programs designed to assist in the provision of housing for such families, the highest priority and emphasis should be given to meeting the housing needs of those families for which the national goal has not become a reality; and in the carrying out of such programs there should be the fullest practicable utilization of the resources and capabilities of private enterprise and of individual self-help techniques. REAFFIRMATION OF GOAL SEC. 1601. The Congress finds that the supply of the Nation's housing is not increasing rapidly enough to meet the national housing goal, established in the Housing Act of 1949, of the "realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family". The Congress reaffirms this national housing goal and determines that it can be substantially achieved within the next decade by the construction or rehabilitation of twenty-six million housing units, six million of these for low and moderate income families. Approved August 1, 1968. 3 II. HOUSING INSURANCE OF HOUSING LOANS AND CREDIT p. 316 See also: NATIONAL HOUSING ACT [Public Law 479, 73d Congress, 48 Stat. 1246, 12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.] AN ACT To encourage improvement in housing standards and conditions, to provide a system of mutual mortgage insurance, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "National Housing Act." TITLE I-HOUSING RENOVATION AND MODERNIZATION ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS 1 SECTION 1. The 2 powers conferred by this Act shall be exercised by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary"). In order to carry out the provisions of this title and titles II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI, the Secretary may establish such agencies, accept and utilize such voluntary and uncompensated services, utilize such Federal officers and employees, and, with the consent of the State, such State and local officers and employees, and appoint such other officers and employees as he may find necessary, and may prescribe their authorities, duties, responsibilities, and tenure and fix their compensation, without regard to the provisions of other laws applicable to the employment or compensation of officers or employees 1 Sec. 1(b) of Public Law 90-19, approved May 25, 1967, 81 Stat. 17, substituted this heading for "Creation of Federal Housing Administration." Sec. 1 of Public Law 90-19, approved May 25, 1967, 81 Stat. 18, amended this sentence to read as set forth in the text. Prior to this amendment the sentence read as follows: "The President is authorized to create a Federal Housing Administration, all of the powers of which shall be exercised by a Federal Housing Commissioner (hereinafter referred to as the 'Commissioner'), who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, Public Law 89-174, effective November 9, 1965, 79 Stat. 667, established the Department of Housing and Urban Development and provided in sec. 4 (a) that "There shall be in the Department a Federal Housing Commissioner, who shall be one of the Assistant Secretaries, who shall head a Federal Housing Administration within the Department, who shall have such duties and powers as may be prescribed by the Secretary, and who shall administer, under the supervision and direction of the Secretary, departmental programs relating to the private mortgage market." Sec. 5(a) of that act transferred to and vested in the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development all of the functions, powers and duties of the Federal Housing Administration and of the heads and other officers and offices of that Administration. Sec. 1 of Public Law 90-19, amended all provisions in the National Housing Act with respect to its administration to reflect this transfer. The changes are too numerous to be noted by separate footnotes. |