The Contest for a National System of Home-Mortgage Finance

The Contest for a National Syatem of Home-Mortgage Finance. Since 1932, the federal government has undertaken new responsibilities in regard to housing and home finance which involve a public investment of more than four billion dollars, contingent liabilities for the security of a private investment of three billion dollars, and the creation of a set of administrative structures that cover the entire nation. Yet, despite the magnitude of this public effort, no new “system” of housing has resulted. It is precisely the striking lack of coherence in the government's program that gives a hint of the variety of forces now competing for control and for advantage in this field. Not until 1937, after a stormy period of improvisation, was the first workable formula of public housing agreed upon. Surely it is clear that the nation was not preoccupied throughout the depression years with the cause of those most in need of proper dwellings. By 1937 there had already been enacted the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, the Home Owner's Loan Act, and the National Housing Act, all of which dealt with some aspect of housing and none of which made any serious approach to slum of clearance or housing for the masses. Whereas the depression brought no essentially new crisis for the ill-housed, it did represent a critical time for home tenure. Home ownership in this country has always been extensive, and ownership is usually not achieved without contracting some amount of mortgage debt.