FHA Loan Expert Blog

June 28, 1934 was quite a day.  That’s when the National Housing Act established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure loans for construction, renovation or repairs of homes.  Let’s take a look at some housing history around the web and particularly, what we find on the history of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

From Questia.com we read:

In the United States, housing problems—in particular the growth of slums—became acute during the 19th cent. in the cities of the eastern seaboard and in the larger Midwestern cities. A leading cause was the heavy immigration from Europe that began in the middle of the 19th cent. and reached a peak at the turn of the century. The first housing law (the 1867 New York City tenement house law) was revised in 1879 to prohibit windowless rooms. The findings of a tenement house commission resulted in a new law in 1901, requiring better provision for light and ventilation, fire protection, and sanitation. Most U.S. city and state housing laws in the following years were based on those of New York City.

Until World War I there was no government housing in the United States. Then temporary dwellings were put up for defense workers. The U.S. government lapsed into almost complete inaction with regard to building housing until the advent of the New Deal. The National Housing Act (1934) created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to undertake a nationwide system of home loan insurance. It also established, by means of mortgage insurance regulation, minimum standards for construction, for design, and for location.

Low-cost housing projects, including farm-family homes sponsored by the Resettlement Administration, were coordinated in 1937 under the U.S. Housing Authority, which financed urban low-rent and slum clearance developments by making loans at low interest rates. Such loans were later extended to rural housing. The Lanham Act (1940) authorized federal operation of a large-scale housing program for defense workers.

To unify the many federal housing agencies, President Roosevelt created (1942) the National Housing Agency, which included the Federal Public Housing Authority, the Federal Home Loan Bank Administration, and the FHA. But the total wartime construction of permanent homes was far below peacetime levels, while the demand for housing rose sharply with a high marriage rate, migration from farms to cities, greater buying power, and later the return of veterans. Complicated by building codes, union practices, and labor and material shortages, the housing deficiency remained serious after the war, and federal rent controls continued for some time.

A national housing policy began to emerge when Congress passed the Housing Acts of 1949 and 1954, aimed at easing the housing shortage and eliminating slums; their goal was a decent home for every family. The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 created a separate cabinet-level Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 1966 the Model Cities Act coordinated government assistance to selected low-income areas of cities.

Housing since then often has been caught up in debate over rent controls, homelessness, the failure of savings and loan associations, and the buying and selling of political influence by government administrators and building developers. From 1980 to 1987, 2.5 million low-cost housing units were lost, and the federal government reduced its subsidies for construction by 60%. In response, some private groups like Habitat for Humanity have tried to help individuals buy and renovate low-cost housing. Housing advocates have argued for public housing reform, including controls on speculation and on rent (about 36% of occupied U.S. housing units are rentals).

HUD.gov offers the following commentary on the History of FHA:

Congress created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in 1934. The FHA became a part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Housing in 1965.

When the FHA was created, the housing industry was flat on its back:

Two million construction workers had lost their jobs.

Terms were difficult to meet for homebuyers seeking mortgages.

Mortgage loan terms were limited to 50 percent of the property’s market value, with a repayment schedule spread over three to five years and ending with a balloon payment.

America was primarily a nation of renters. Only four in 10 households owned homes.

During the 1940s, FHA programs helped finance military housing and homes for returning veterans and their families after the war.

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the FHA helped to spark the production of millions of units of privately-owned apartments for elderly, handicapped and lower income Americans. When soaring inflation and energy costs threatened the survival of thousands of private apartment buildings in the 1970s, FHA’s emergency financing kept cash-strapped properties afloat.

The FHA moved in to steady falling home prices and made it possible for potential homebuyers to get the financing they needed when recession prompted private mortgage insurers to pull out of oil producing states in the 1980s.

By 2001, the nation’s homeownership rate had soared to an all time high of 68.1 percent as of the third quarter that year.

The FHA and HUD have insured over 34 million home mortgages and 47,205 multifamily project mortgages since 1934. FHA currently has 4.8 million insured single family mortgages and 13,000 insured multifamily projects in its portfolio.

In the more than 60 years since the FHA was created, much has changed and Americans are now arguably the best housed people in the world. HUD has helped greatly with that success.

That’s quite a history of FHA and seems like today is a good time to look back and reflect on the history of FHA.  The real estate cycle is going full circle and it’s always wise to take a moment and examine where we started.  The FHA loan is back in full force and this Federal Housing Administration information has been brought to you by the FHA Loan Experts.