History of affordable and workforce housing
How the United States came to house — and fail to house — its lower-income and working families, 1867–2026. Every milestone links to its source.
History guides
Public Housing in America: Past and Present
How U.S. public housing began in 1937, why it declined, and how HOPE VI, the Faircloth limit, and RAD conversions shaped the smaller program that exists today.
A History of Affordable Housing in America
From tenement laws to the 1937 Housing Act, urban renewal, Section 8, the LIHTC, HOPE VI and RAD: how U.S. affordable housing policy evolved, and why.
A History of Workforce Housing
From Lowell boardinghouses and Pullman to wartime defense housing, Levittown and teacher housing: how America has housed its workers since the 1820s.
Redlining, Segregation and the Fight for Fair Housing
How HOLC maps, FHA underwriting and racial covenants segregated U.S. neighborhoods, and how Shelley, the Fair Housing Act and the CRA tried to undo it.
Timeline
Before 1933Reform and the first housing laws
- 1867
New York's Tenement House Law of 1867 defines the tenement
The law gave the tenement a legal definition: any building housing more than three families, each living and cooking independently. In 1887 the definition was widened to include buildings housing three families.
- 1879
The "Old Law" requires windows and creates the dumbbell tenement
New York's Tenement House Act of 1879 was the first law to govern the physical form of tenements, requiring a window in every room. The narrow air shafts of the resulting "dumbbell" design gave little light or air and collected garbage.
- 1890
Jacob Riis publishes "How the Other Half Lives"
Riis's reporting and photographs of New York's tenement slums drew national attention to urban housing conditions. The book inspired tenement legislation and laid the foundation for muckraking journalism.
- 1894
The Pullman Strike and the company town
Pullman, Illinois, built by sleeping-car maker George Pullman, was one of the first planned industrial communities in the U.S. It is remembered for the 1894 Pullman Strike and Boycott, a landmark in labor history.
- 1901
New York's Tenement House Act of 1901, the "New Law"
Passed after a state commission's report, the act required windows in every room and a toilet in each new apartment. It also ordered fixes to older tenements, including improved lighting and more toilets.
- 1917
Buchanan v. Warley strikes down racial zoning
The U.S. Supreme Court held that a Louisville ordinance barring Black residents from moving onto majority-white blocks, and white residents onto majority-Black blocks, violated the Fourteenth Amendment. It was not a legitimate use of the police power.
- 1918
U.S. Housing Corporation formed to house war workers
Set up under the Housing for War Needs Act, the corporation provided housing, local transportation and community facilities for industrial workers in World War I. Construction stopped after the Armistice.
- 1926
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty upholds zoning
The Supreme Court upheld a village's comprehensive zoning ordinance separating single-family houses, two-family houses, apartments and industry, affirming local governments' power to zone.
- 1932
Federal Home Loan Bank Act creates the FHLBank System
The act created the Federal Home Loan Bank Board as an independent agency, overseeing the Federal Home Loan Bank System that supports home mortgage lending. The banks later took on a role in funding affordable housing.
1933–1948The New Deal and wartime housing
- 1933
Home Owners' Loan Corporation provides foreclosure relief
Created to give mortgage relief to homeowners facing foreclosure in the Depression, the HOLC also drew color-coded "residential security" maps of hundreds of metropolitan areas. Those maps are now associated with redlining.
- 1934
National Housing Act creates the Federal Housing Administration
The FHA was established as an independent agency to insure private lenders against losses on home mortgage loans. It became part of HUD in 1965.
- 1937
Wagner-Steagall Housing Act launches public housing
President Roosevelt signed the act creating the U.S. Housing Authority, which lent $500 million to state and local housing authorities to build low-cost housing. During World War II, the USHA also built housing for defense workers.
- 1938
FHA Underwriting Manual treats race as a credit risk
The FHA began redlining when it started operating in 1934. Its 1938 Underwriting Manual warned against the "infiltration of inharmonious racial groups" and recommended racially restrictive covenants, steering insured lending away from Black neighborhoods.
- 1940
Lanham Act funds public housing for defense workers
By mid-1941 the act, as amended, had authorized a $300 million public housing program for defense needs, and Roosevelt asked Congress to double it. In his words, without housing for workers, defense industries "cannot function to full capacity."
- 1944
The G.I. Bill helps veterans buy homes
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act gave World War II veterans federal aid for education, unemployment insurance and the purchase of homes and businesses.
- 1948
Shelley v. Kraemer: courts cannot enforce racial covenants
The Supreme Court held that when state courts enforce racially restrictive covenants, they deny the equal protection of the laws. Such covenants could no longer be enforced in court.
1949–1964Postwar building and urban renewal
- 1949
Housing Act of 1949 sets the national housing goal
Congress declared the goal of "a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family." It paired that goal with federal aid for clearing slums and blighted areas.
- 1959
Section 202 begins financing housing for older adults
The Housing Act of 1959 created Section 202 as a loan program for housing for the elderly. Congress rewrote it in 1990 into today's program, which expands the supply of supportive housing for very low-income older adults.
1965–1979Civil rights, HUD and Section 8
- 1965
HUD becomes a cabinet department
The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act created a cabinet-level department to coordinate all federal housing programs. It took over agencies including the FHA and the Public Housing Administration.
- 1968
Delaware State Housing Authority is created
Delaware created DSHA in 1968 as a public corporation within the state Department of Housing. In 1998 it became an independent authority in the Executive Department, reporting to the governor.
- 1968
Fair Housing Act outlaws housing discrimination
Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 made it illegal to refuse to sell or rent a home because of race, color, religion or national origin. Congress added sex in 1974.
- 1969
Brooke Amendment caps public housing rent at 25% of income
Named for Sen. Edward W. Brooke III, the amendment limited a public housing resident's rent to 25% of income. The cap was later raised to the 30% standard used today.
- 1973
Nixon freezes new HUD housing production
In January 1973, President Nixon imposed a moratorium on new construction under the major HUD rental and homeownership programs, setting the stage for the 1974 overhaul.
- 1974
Housing and Community Development Act creates Section 8 and CDBG
The 1974 act shifted authority to local governments. It created the tenant-based and project-based Section 8 rental assistance programs and the Community Development Block Grant, which merged seven older programs.
- 1974
Montgomery County, Md., enacts the first mandatory inclusionary zoning law
Montgomery County's Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit program requires new developments of 20 or more homes to include a share of moderately priced units. It is recognized as the country's first mandatory inclusionary zoning law.
- 1975
Mount Laurel I: every New Jersey town owes its "fair share"
In a case against exclusionary zoning in Mount Laurel Township, with Ethel Lawrence as lead plaintiff, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that every New Jersey municipality is responsible for providing its fair share of affordable housing.
- 1977
Community Reinvestment Act
Congress found that regulated banks have a "continuing and affirmative obligation" to help meet the credit needs of the communities where they are chartered. It directed regulators to encourage this lending when they examine banks.
1980–1999Tax credits and devolution
- 1986
Tax Reform Act creates the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
The act added Section 42 to the tax code. Investors get a tax credit for financing rental housing rent-restricted for lower-income households, and state housing credit agencies allocate the credits.
- 1987
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act
Congress found an "immediate and unprecedented crisis" from a lack of shelter for growing numbers of people. The McKinney Act created federal programs to meet the urgent needs of homeless people.
- 1988
Fair Housing Amendments Act adds disability and familial status
The amendments made it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities or families with children. They also required housing providers to permit reasonable modifications and set accessible design standards for new multifamily housing.
- 1989
FIRREA requires each Federal Home Loan Bank to fund affordable housing
The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act added the Affordable Housing Program to the Federal Home Loan Bank Act. Each bank must devote a share of its earnings to low- and moderate-income housing.
- 1990
Cranston-Gonzalez Act creates the HOME program
The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act created the HOME Investment Partnerships program to expand the supply of decent, affordable housing, chiefly rental housing, for very low-income and low-income households, and to build the capacity of nonprofit housing developers.
- 1990
Section 811 supportive housing for persons with disabilities
The same 1990 act created Section 811, which expands the supply of supportive housing so people with disabilities can live with dignity and independence in their communities.
- 1992
HOPE VI targets severely distressed public housing
Created after a national commission found 86,000 public housing units (6% of the stock) severely distressed, HOPE VI funded the renovation or demolition of distressed projects and their replacement with mixed-income housing.
- 1998
QHWRA creates the Housing Choice Voucher program
The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act rewrote much of the 1937 Housing Act. Among its changes, it merged the Section 8 certificate and voucher programs into today's Housing Choice Voucher program.
2000–2019Preservation, crisis and reform
- 2008
Housing and Economic Recovery Act creates the National Housing Trust Fund
HERA established the Housing Trust Fund, a formula grant to states driven by shortages of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income and very low-income renters.
- 2011
Congress authorizes the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)
Authorized in the fiscal 2012 appropriations act, RAD lets public housing and other older HUD properties convert to long-term Section 8 contracts. Owners can then borrow private capital for overdue repairs.
- 2015
Inclusive Communities: Supreme Court upholds disparate impact
In a case about where Texas awarded tax credits, the Supreme Court held that disparate-impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act. A policy can be challenged for its discriminatory effects, not only its intent.
- 2017
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act creates Opportunity Zones
Opportunity Zones give investors tax benefits for investing, through Qualified Opportunity Funds, in designated low-income communities in all 50 states, D.C. and five territories.
- 2018
Congress adds income averaging to the LIHTC
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 created the average income test. Restricted units can serve households up to 80% of AMI as long as their designated limits average 60% or less.
- 2019
Oregon HB 2001 requires cities to allow middle housing
Oregon required cities of more than 25,000 people, and most of the Portland metro area, to allow duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, cottage clusters and townhouses in areas zoned for single-family houses. Cities of 10,000 to 25,000 must allow duplexes.
2020–The 2020s
- 2020
Congress sets a permanent 4% floor for the LIHTC
For buildings placed in service after 2020 that do not qualify for the 9% rate, the credit rate can be no lower than 4%. The floor is set in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
- 2021
Emergency Rental Assistance reaches renters during COVID-19
Treasury's ERA program combined $25 billion under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 with $21.55 billion under the American Rescue Plan Act. The funds gave renters financial assistance and housing stability services.
- 2021
American Rescue Plan funds Emergency Housing Vouchers
The act appropriated $5 billion for tenant-based emergency vouchers for people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, fleeing domestic violence or trafficking, or recently homeless.
- 2021
California SB 9 allows duplexes and lot splits by right
California required cities to approve, ministerially, up to two homes on a single-family lot and the splitting of a lot in two, with exclusions that protect rent-restricted, tenant-occupied and historic housing.
- 2024
Delaware enacts the Delaware Workforce Housing Program
Run by DSHA, the program reimburses investors with grants of up to 20% of the capital costs of creating homes for households earning up to 100% of area median income, in the state's Investment Level 1 and 2 areas.
- 2025
Public Law 119-21 expands the LIHTC
Starting in 2026, states' 9% credit allocations permanently rise 12%. Bond-financed buildings placed in service after 2025 can qualify for 4% credits when tax-exempt bonds finance 25% of the cost of the building and land, down from 50%, if some of those bonds are issued after 2025.
- 2026
21st Century ROAD to Housing Act becomes law
A bipartisan package (H.R. 6644) with more than 45 provisions to reduce regulatory barriers to home construction and modernize HUD programs. It also addresses large investors competing with individual homebuyers.