This historical publication contains two general sections 1) the purpose of the U.S. Housing Authority and 2) the history of the creation of the authority. The author argues that the authority’s main purpose was to revitalize urban slums to promote public health and safety, thereby reducing drains on government funds and improving the lives of Americans. The report notes that the market had failed to develop appropriate housing for low-income individuals due to a lack of expected return on investment, which only the federal government could solve. The second half of the paper discusses the history of Congress’s creation of the authority and provides two case studies of housing conditions before and after the authority’s creation in the cities of Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

This report is part of the collection of scanned historical documents available to the public.