ABSTRACT
The 1937 Housing Act created the US Housing Authority, which was responsible for making loans to public housing agencies that developed low-rent housing and slum clearance projects. The support necessary to enact quasi-public housing programs materialized when the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) broke with the other members of the housing lobby in the 1960s. The NAHB, in particular, and the MBA, in general, represented construction and financial firms that relied on new housing construction for their continued growth. The disarray in housing finance and construction in the Great Depression meant that the supply side of the housing market was unable to function, leaving the demand side of the market unable to realize its desire for homeownership. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 had created its housing production programs so that the motivation for increased production was initiated by consumer demand.
