Housing (shelter)

C

Amount of Housing

The U.S. Census Bureau defines a housing unit as “a house, an apartment, group of rooms or a single room, occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters,” with (1) direct access to the unit from the outside or through a common hall and/or (2) complete kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of occupants. Transient or institutional accommodations and barracks for workers are not counted as housing units.

As of 1990 more than 105 million housing units, with a combined market value exceeding $4.1 trillion, existed in the United States. Approximately 102 million were year-round housing units (not intended for seasonal occupancy or held for migrant labor); of these, about 60 percent were occupied by owners and 40 percent by renters. The 16 Southern states contain more than one-third of all housing units; the 12 Midwestern states contain slightly less than one-quarter; and the 9 Northeastern and 13 Western states each contain about 20 percent of the nation's housing. In a robust construction year, a net 1.5 million units might be added to the housing inventory: 2.1 million units added in new construction and 600,000 units lost due to natural attrition, disaster, highway clearance, or abandonment.

D

Types of Housing

Housing in the United States varies significantly in type, age, value, and quality. Currently, some 66 percent of all U.S. housing consists of single-family homes; another 10 percent is made up of two- to four-unit structures; 17 percent is made of structures of five units or more (apartment houses); and the remaining 7 percent of housing consists of mobile homes.

Nearly 22 percent of U.S. housing stock was built before 1940; another 57 percent has been constructed since 1960. In 1990 the median price of a new one-family home was more than $122,900; the average rental was about $489 monthly. More than 72 percent of the privately owned housing had at least six rooms; rental housing, on the average, had four rooms.

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The relative quality of American housing is exceptionally high. Less than 2 percent of year-round housing units lack plumbing; about 3 percent have more than one person per room (an index of overcrowding); and about 1 percent lack exclusive use of kitchen facilities.

E

Housing Regulations and Federal Aid

The earliest public involvement in housing in the United States was the establishment of housing codes. One of the first, the New York Tenement Law of 1867, regulated the physical conditions and maintenance standards of apartment houses in New York City. A more sophisticated and elaborate code was adopted in 1901. Other states, including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, soon followed suit.

The federal government was first induced to regulate housing when the nation entered World War I in 1917. This event sparked the expansion of defense plants, thus straining the housing supply for war workers at particular locations. To handle this problem, Congress formed the U.S. Housing Corporation, which remained in existence until the end of the war in 1918.

E

1

The Depression Years

A housing boom occurred in the United States during the 1920s, but activity plummeted during the Great Depression in the 1930s. This downturn prompted dramatic federal housing programs. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation was formed in 1933 to refinance existing home loans. More durable were the activities of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) authorized in 1934. The FHA insured residential loans and thus encouraged lenders to offer long-term (20- to 30-year), fixed-rate mortgages. FHA housing activity received further support when the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) was created in 1938. The FNMA purchased FHA-insured loans, thus establishing an important secondary market and liquidity (ease of turning into cash) for local savings and loan associations.

During the 1930s a public housing program was created to provide slum clearance and low-cost housing for the poor. These activities were implemented by local housing authorities, which received federal financial assistance. Such public support systems stimulated housing activity in the late 1930s; the advent of World War II (1939-1945), however, brought all but essential housing construction to a halt.

E

2

The Postwar Era

In the late 1940s and '50s, the federal government continued the FHA, the FNMA, and public housing supports and also added new programs. The Veterans Administration, for example, guaranteed home loans obtained by veterans through a program authorized in 1944; together with FHA insurance, this encouraged development of the postwar suburban land subdivisions.

The most significant programs and strategies in the postwar period were provided by milestone legislation. Numerous housing acts provided subsidies for slum demolition, rental housing rehabilitation, and low-income home ownership. The Housing Act of 1949 authorized “urban renewal”of slum areas. Under this act, local redevelopment authorities purchased and demolished deteriorated properties and then sold the cleared tracts to private developers for a nominal sum. The goal of urban renewal was to replace slum areas with new residential and nonresidential units. The program came under criticism, however, as a strategy that overemphasized demolition, often to the detriment of viable neighborhoods and poor or minority residents.

In the 1960s the federal government increased and changed its housing involvement. Instead of demolition, housing rehabilitation was encouraged. In addition, new and expanded housing subsidies were provided for poor and minority households. The Housing Act of 1965 created the program that made subsidies available for low- and moderate-income rental units, and it also authorized the subsidy that fostered home ownership by the poor. The housing needs of inner-city areas were to be met by specially targeted subsidies. The best-known subsidy plan was the Model Cities Program (authorized by the 1966 Demonstration Cities Act), which focused on upgrading the physical (housing, public facilities) as well as the social (education, job training) aspects of inner-city areas.

The many federal housing efforts were administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which was created as a cabinet-level agency in 1965. In addition to urban programs, HUD also was in charge of aiding new towns—self-contained communities incorporating integrated residential and nonresidential uses. See Housing and Urban Development, Department of.

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