ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mission of singular importance, namely, the achievement of equal opportunity for all races to live in decent housing whenever and wherever they choose. It discusses the laws and executive orders that give HUD the responsibility and provide some authority to carry it out. The chapter assesses HUD's performance and the disappointing results and examines some ways in which HUD's capacity can be strengthened to accomplish the job Congress has given it. In essence, HUD's mission is to use all of its programs and the direct authorities that civil rights legislation gives it to eliminate racial discrimination in housing, and promote integration of the races. HUD's power to control various forms of housing discrimination rested on its authority to investigate complaints from persons who claimed they had been discriminated against on racial grounds.
