63 STAT.]
81ST CONG. , 1ST SESS.-CH. 338-JULY 15, 1949
[CHAPTER 338]
AN ACT
July 15, 1949
To establish a national housing objective and the policy to be followed in the
I[. 1070]
attainment thereof, to provide Federal aid to assist slum-clearance projects
[Public Law 171]
and low-rent public housing projects initiated by local agencies, to provide for
financial assistance by the Secretary of Agriculture for farm housing, 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
Housing Act of 1949.
may be cited as the "Housing Act of 1949".
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 suffi-
cient to remedy the serious housing shortage, the elimination of sub-
standard 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 secur-
ity of the Nation. The Congress further declares that such produc-
tion is necessary to enable the housing industry to make its full
contribution toward an economy of maximum employment, produc-
tion, and purchasing power. The policy to be followed in attain-
ing 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 neighbor-
hoods, 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) govern-
mental assistance to eliminate substandard and other inadequate
housing through the clearance of slums and blighted areas, to facil-
itate community development and redevelopment, and to provide ade-
quate 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) gov-
ernmental assistance for decent, safe, and sanitary farm dwellings
and related facilities shall be extended where the farm owner demon-
strates 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 expected to fulfill. The Housing and Home Finance
Agency and its constituent agencies, and any other departments or
agencies of the Federal Government having powers, functions, or
duties with respect to housing, shall exercise their powers, functions,
and duties under this or any other law, consistently with the national
housing policy declared by this Act and in such manner as will facil-
itate sustained progress in attaining the national housing objective
413
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