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PART I: BASIC LAWS AND AUTHORITIES ON

HOUSING

NATIONAL HOUSING GOALS

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

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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.

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Approved July 15, 1949.

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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

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.

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and interests of the Nation's communities and of the people who live and work in them.

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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.

TITLE XVI-HOUSING GOALS AND ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT

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REAFFIRMATION OF GOAL

SEC. 1601. (a) 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

1 Sec. 801 (1) of Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Public Law 93-383, 88 Stat. 633, approved August 22, 1974, inserted (a) following sec. 1601.

within the next decade by the construction or rehabilitation of twentysix million housing units, six million of these for low and moderate income families.

(b) The Congress further finds that policies designed to contribute to the achievement of the national housing goal have not directed sufficient attention and resources to the preservation of existing housing and neighborhoods, that the deterioration and abandonment of housing for the Nation's lower income families has accelerated over the last decade, and that this acceleration has contributed to neighborhood disintegration and has partially negated the progress toward achieving the national housing goal which has been made primarily through new housing construction.

(c) The Congress declares that if the national housing goal is to be achieved, a greater effort must be made to encourage the preservation of existing housing and neighborhoods through such measures as housing preservation, moderate rehabilitation, and improvements in housing management and maintenance, in conjunction with the provision of adequate municipal services. Such an effort should concentrate, to a greater extent than it has in the past, on housing and neighborhoods where deterioration is evident but has not yet become

acute.1

REPORT OUTLINING PLAN

SEC. 1602. Not later than January 15, 1969, the President shall make a report to the Congress setting forth a plan, to be carried out over a period of ten years (June 30, 1968, to June 30, 1978), for the elimination of all substandard housing and the realization of the goal referred to in section 1601. Such plan shall

(1) indicate the number of new or rehabilitated housing units which it is anticipated will have to be provided, with or without Government assistance, during each fiscal year of the ten-year period, in order to achieve the objectives of the plan, showing the number of such units which it is anticipated will have to be provided under each of the various Federal programs designed to assist in the provision of housing;

(2) indicate the reduction in the number of occupied substandard housing units which it is anticipated will have to occur during each fiscal year of the ten-year period in order to achieve the objectives of the plan;

(3) provide an estimate of the cost of carrying out the plan for each of the various Federal programs and for each fiscal year during the ten-year period to the extent that such costs will be reflected in the Federal budget;

(4) make recommendations with respect to the legislative and administrative actions necessary or desirable to achieve the objectives of the plan; and

(5) provide such other pertinent data, estimates, and recommendations as the President deems advisable.

Such report shall, in addition, contain a projection of the residential mortgage market needs and prospects during the coming year, includ

1 Sec. 801(2) of Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Public Law 93-383, 88 Stat. 633, approved August 22, 1974, inserted new subsections (b) and (c).

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