User:OneWomanOneVoice/Housing Act of 1949

The article could use some introduction about Harry S. Truman stepping into office after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The article speaks to the Housing Act of 1949 like there wasn't prior legislation already ongoing when he became President. The article could use further development in the areas about how the Housing Act of 1949 came about so there is more of a background of the law.

Background

On April 12, 1945 the passing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt propelled Harry S. Truman Vice President into the seat of Presidency as the 33rd U.S. President to serve the United States of America. During the Roosevelt administration The National Housing Act of 1934 was passed, which established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and then in 1937 the United States Housing Act was passed which was also referred to as the Wagner Housing Act after Senator Robert Wagner.

In the State of the Union address unveiling the Fair Deal, Truman presented a policy statement on housing: In Truman's State of the Union speech he highlighted four provisions of the bill that were most important to him. Those provisions were Title I, Title III, Title V & Title VI those provisions became the most debated provisions of the Housing Act of 1949 legislation. Truman ended his address by stating the importance of the bill by saying;

"The driving force behind our progress is our faith in our democratic institutions. That faith is embodied in the promise of equal rights and equal opportunities which the founders of our Republic proclaimed to their countrymen and to the whole world.

The fulfillment of this promise is among the highest purposes of government. The civil rights proposals I made to the 80th Congress, I now repeat to the 81st Congress. They should be enacted in order that the Federal Government may assume the leadership and discharge the obligations dearly placed upon it by the Constitution.

I stand squarely behind those proposals."

Legislative History

Date:	Legislative Action:
February 21, 1949	Subcon on Housing & Rents, Committee on Banking & Currency
February 25, 1949	Reported to the Senate
February 25, 1949	Committee on Banking & Currency Senate
April 13, 1949	Debated in Senate
April 21, 1949	Debated, Amended, Passed Senate
April 25, 1949	Referred to Committee House
May 3, 1949	Committee on Appropiations Senate
May 9, 1949	Committee on Banking & Currency House
May 9, 1949	Made special order (H.Res.189) Debated, Amended, Pass House (81 H.R. 2203)
May 16, 1949	Committee on Banking & Currency House
July 6, 1949	Committee of Conference House
July 8, 1949	Conference Report (H.rp.975) Submitted in House & agreed to
July 8, 1949	Conference Report agreed to in Senate
July 14, 1949	Committee on Banking & Currency Senate
July 14, 1949	Presidential Signing Statement

Provisions

Title I - Slum Clearance & Community Development & Redevelopment

Authorized $1 Billion in loans to help cities acquire slums and blighted land for public or private redevelopment. It also allotted $100 million every year for five years for grants to cover two-thirds of the difference between the cost of the slum land and its reuse value.

Title II - Amendments to National Housing Act

Amended the National Housing Act of 1934 by reauthorizing the FHA for six weeks and raised by $500 million the amount the FHA was allowed to offer as mortgage insurance.

Title III - Low Rent Public Housing

Required that public housing authorities demolish or renovate one slum dwelling unit for every public housing apartment they built.

Title IV - Housing Research

Provided funds and the authority to conduct extensive research into the economics of housing construction, markets, and financing.

Title V - Farm Housing

Addressed the problems of rural housing by reorganizing and expanding the loan program initiated under the Bankhead-Johns Farm Tenant Act of 1937, which allowed farmer to purchase and improve farms.

Title VI - Miscellaneous Provisions

(I will include a legacy section that will talk about what if anything this bill handed down to the housing market today.)