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Beginnings of public housing Public Works Administration builds public housing Special interest, race and local control
copyright 1998 Texas Low Income Housing Information Service |
| The past: beginnings of public housing | |||||||||
| The Depression in Texas | |||||||||
| Then came the stock market crash and the failure of the nation's
banking system and the boom became a bust. Millions who had benefited
from the economic boom of the 1920's and had bought a home were
in default on their mortgages. The banks were in desperate straights. The collapse of the economy created an urgent need for employment and housing. The federal government acted to save the private housing market from virtual extinction by creating long-term home mortgage financing in 1932. |
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| Men in the relief line in San Antonio in 1930's. (photo: Institute of Texan Cultures) | |||||||||
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| Economic conditions of the Depression caused homelessness to become a concern for many Texans, including this San Antonio family. (photo: Institute of Texan Cultures) | |||||||||
| This new activism on the part of the federal government in the
field of housing was a complete reversal of the long established
principal that housing was exclusively the responsibility of the
private sector. As opposed to the later fights over public housing, the government rescue of the private banking and mortgage finance system met with virtual unanimous support from both the real estate and home building industries. |
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The Public Works Administration builds public housing |
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