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action until permanent action can be teken.

Under the 1968 Act relocation adjustment payments were broadened and a new payment was authorized under which certain displaced homeowners can receive up to $5,000 to enable them to pay the difference between the average price for an adequate replacement home and the acquisition price of his former home.

The

The basic urban renewal law, title I of the Housing Act of 1949, is set forth in this compilation as amended through September 1, 1968. footnotes give a complete history of the amendments that have been made in the law since its original enactment in 1949.

Administration of Federal Assistance

Most of the functions of the Department of Housing and Urban Development with respect to Federal assistance to slum clearance and urban renewal are administered by the Renewal Assistance Administration. The mortgage insurance program for urban renewal housing is administered by the Federal Housing Administration in the Department, and the Government National Mortgage Association (also in the Department) provides a secondary market for the mortgages. The Housing Assistance Administration in the Department carries out the low-rent public housing program which helps to provide housing for low-income families for urban renewal areas and who are displaced by urban renewal activities.

Information about any phase of urban renewal aids and applications for their use in any locality are provided through the seven regional offices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Information about FHA mortgage insurance or low-rent public housing can also be obtained from these offices.

All initial inquiries and dealings with the Federal Government on urban renewal should be directed to the Regional Administrator, Department of Housing and Urban Development, at the following addresses:

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Public Law 171, 81st Congress

(63 Stat. 413, 414; 42 U.S.C. 1441 and 1450 et seq)

AN ACT

To establish a national housing objective and the policy to be followed in the attainment thereof, to provide Federal aid to assist slumclearance projects 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 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 sufficient to remedy the serious housing shortage, the elimination of

The provisions of the Housing Act of 1949 relating to urban renewal have been amended by Public Law 370, 82nd Congress, approved June 3, 1952, 66 Stat. 98; Housing Amendments of 1953, Public Law 94, 83rd Congress, approved June 30, 1953, 67 Stat. 121; Housing Act of 1954, Public Law 560, 83rd Congress, approved August 2, 1954, 68 Stat. 590; Housing Amendments of 1955, Public Law 345, 84th Congress, approved Aug. 11, 1955, 69 Stat. 635; the Housing Act of 1956, Public Law 1020, 84th Congress, approved Aug. 7, 1956, 70 Stat. 1091; the Housing Act of 1957, Public Law 104, 85th Congress, approved July 12, 1957, 71 Stat. 294; the Housing Act of 1959, Public Law 86-372, approved Sept. 23, 1959, 73 Stat. 654; the Area Redevelopment Act, Public Law 87-27, approved May 1, 1961, 75 Stat. 47; the Housing Act of 1961, Public Law 87-70, approved June 30, 1961, 75 Stat. 149; the Housing Act of 1964, Public Law 88-560, approved Sept. 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 769; the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, Public Law 89-117, approved Aug. 10, 1965, 79 Stat. 451; the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, Public Law 89-174, approved Sept. 9, 1965, 79 Stat. 667; the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, Public Law 89-754, approved Nov. 3, 1966, 80 Stat. 1255; the Act of May 25, 1967, Public Law 90-19, 81 Stat. 17; and the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, Public Law 90-448, approved Aug. 1, 1968, 82 Stat. 476.

Housing Act of 1949

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 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 soley 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 farm owner 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 Department of Housing and Urban Development2 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

1See Congressional affirmation of this policy, infra.

2sec. 6 (a) of the Act of May 25, 1967, Public Law 90-19, 81 Stat. 17, 21, substituted the words "Department of Housing and Urban Development" for "Housing and Home Finance Agency and its constitutent agencies".

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