I. NATIONAL POLICY AND PURPOSE

EXCERPT FROM THE HOUSING ACT OF 1949

[Public Law 171, 81st Congress; 63 Stat. 413; 42 U.S.C. 1441 (1946 ed., Supp. III)]

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 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 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.

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.

II. HOUSING

INSURANCE OF HOUSING LOANS AND CREDIT

See also:

p. 247

Rural housing, sec. 517, Housing Act of 1949_.
Veterans' housing, Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 38 U.S.C. 1801

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

CREATION OF FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION

SECTION 1. 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.1

In order to carry out the provisions of this title and titles II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI, the Commissioner 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 of the United States. The Commissioner may delegate any of the functions and powers conferred upon him under this title and titles II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI, to such officers, agents, and employees as he may designate or appoint, and may make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat

1 Sec. 4(a), Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, Public Law 89-174, effective November 9, 1965, 79 Stat. 667, 668, provides: "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."

of government and elsewhere, for law books and books of reference, and for paper, printing, and binding) as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this title and titles II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI without regard to any other provisions of law governing the expenditure of public funds. All such compensation, expenses, and allowances shall be paid out of funds made available by this Act: Provided, That, notwithstanding any other provisions of law except provisions of law hereafter enacted expressly in limitation hereof, all expenses of the Federal Housing Administration in connection with the examination and insurance of loans or investments under any title of this Act, all properly capitalized expenditures, and other necessary expenses not attributable to general overhead in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles shall be considered nonadministrative and payable from funds made available by this Act, except that, unless made pursuant to specific authorization by the Congress therefor, expenditures made in any fiscal year pursuant to this proviso, other than the payment of insurance claims and other than expenditures (including services on a contract or fee basis, but not including other personal services) in connection with the acquisition, protection, completion, operation, maintenance, improvement, or disposition of real or personal property of the Administration acquired under authority of this Act, shall not exceed 35 per centum of the income received by the Federal Housing Administration from premiums and fees during the preceding fiscal year. The Commissioner shall, in carrying out the provisions of this title and titles II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI be authorized, in his official capacity, to sue and be sued in any court of competent jurisdiction, State or Federal.

INSURANCE OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

SEC. 2. (a) The Commissioner is authorized and empowered upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, to insure banks, trust companies, personal finance companies, mortgage companies, building and loan associations, installment lending companies, and other such financial institutions, which the Commissioner finds to be qualified by experience or facilities and approves as eligible for credit insurance, against losses which they may sustain as a result of loans and advances of credit, and purchases of obligations representing loans and advances of credit, made by them on and after July 1, 1939, and prior to October 1, 1969,1 for the purpose of financing alterations, repairs, and improvements upon or in connection with existing structures, and the building of new structures, upon urban, suburban, or rural real property (including the restoration, rehabilitation, rebuilding, and replacement of such improvements which have been damaged or destroyed by earthquake, conflagration, tornado, hurricane, cyclone, flood, or other catastrophe), by the owners thereof or by lessees of such real property under a lease expiring not less than six months after the maturity of the loan or advance of credit. In no case shall the insurance granted by the Commissioner under this section to any such financial institution on loans, advances of credit, and purchases made

1 Sec. 202 (a), Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, Public Law 89-117, approved August 10, 1965, 79 Stat. 451, 465, substituted "1969" for "1965".

by such financial institution for such purposes on and after July 1, 1939, exceed 10 per centum of the total amount of such loans, advances of credit, and purchases: Provided, That with respect to any loan, advance of credit, or purchase made after the effective date of the Housing Act of 1954,2 the amount of any claim for loss on any such individual loan, advance of credit, or purchase paid by the Commissioner under the provisions of this section to a lending institution shall not exceed 90 per centum of such loss.3

After the effective date of the Housing Act of 1954,5 (i) the Commissioner shall not enter into contracts for insurance pursuant to this section except with lending institutions which are subject to the inspection and supervision of a governmental agency required by law to make periodic examinations of their books and accounts, and which the Commissioner finds to be qualified by experience or facilities to make and service such loans, advances or purchases, and with such other lending institutions which the Commissioner approves as eligible for insurance pursuant to this section on the basis of their credit and their experience or facilities to make and service such loans, advances or purchases; (ii) only such items as substantially protect or improve the basic livability or utility of properties shall be eligible for financing under this section, and therefore the Commissioner shall from time to time declare ineligible for financing under this section any item, product, alteration, repair, improvement, or class thereof which he determines would not substantially protect or improve the basic livability or utility of such properties, and he may also declare ineligible for financing under this section any item which he determines is especially subject to selling abuses; and (iii) the Commissioner is hereby authorized and directed, by such regulations or procedures as he shall deem advisable, to prevent the use of any financial assistance under this section (1) with respect to new residential structures that have not been completed and occupied for at least six months, or (2) which would, through multiple loans, result in an outstanding aggregate loan balance with respect to the same structure exceeding the dollar amount limitation prescribed in this subsection for the type of loan involved: Provided, That this clause (iii) may in the discretion of the Commissioner be waived with respect to the period of occupancy or completion of any such new residential structures.

1 This proviso added by sec. 101(a), Housing Act of 1954, Public Law 560, 83d Congress, approved August 2, 1954, 68 Stat. 590.

2 Sec. 101 (b), Housing Act of 1954, Public Law 560, 83d Congress, approved August 2, 1954, 68 Stat. 590, provided that as used in this section 2(a) the "effective date of the Housing Act of 1954" should mean "the first day after the first full calendar month following the date of approval of the Housing Act of 1954" (August 2, 1954).

Sec. 2(a) of Public Law 86-788, approved September 14, 1960, 74 Stat. 1027, 1028, deleted the last sentence of subsection (a) which read: "The aggregate amount of all loans, advances of credit, and obligations purchased, exclusive of financing charges, with respect to which insurance may be heretofore or hereafter granted under this section and outstanding at any one time shall not exceed $1,750,000,000."

4 This paragraph added by sec. 101 (a) of the Housing Act of 1954, Public Law 560, 83d Congress, approved August 2, 1954, 68 Stat. 590.

5 Sec. 101(b) of the Housing Act of 1954, Public Law 560, 83d Cong., approved August 2, 1954, 68 Stat. 590, provided that as used in this section 2(a) the "effective date of the Housing Act of 1954" should mean "the first day after the first full calendar month following the date of approval of the Housing Act of 1954" (August 2, 1954).

Amended to read as set forth in the text by sec. 101 (a) of the Housing Act of 1956, Public Law 1020, 84th Congress, approved August 7, 1956, 70 Stat. 1091. As originally added to this section by Public Law 405, 84th Congress, approved February 10, 1956, 70 Stat. 11, this proviso provided that clause (iii) should not be mandatory with respect to the period of occupancy or completion of new residential structures where the structures had been damaged in a major disaster.

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