ABSTRACT
Two reports touched off the investigations. First was the Commissioner of Internal Revenue had reported that the income tax return of corporations sponsoring 608 projects revealed large windfall profits in hundreds of projects. Second was report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation had pointed to evidence of extensive victimization of property owners by unscrupulous dealers and salesmen negotiating property improvement loans. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was sailing merrily along and then the ship hit the shoals. In January 1947, FHA sent its minions far and wide across the nation with the message that it was the patriotic duty of the builders to relieve the housing conditions of the returning veterans and the FHA was ready to make it easy. The FHA are the basing construction costs on the average in the locality, the costs of the better than average builder would be substantially below the FHA estimate.
