TITLE 42 - US CODE - SUBCHAPTER I - GENERAL PROVISIONS

42 USC 1441 - Congressional declaration of national housing policy

The Congress declares that the general welfare and security of the Nation and the health and living standards of its people require housing production and related community development sufficient to remedy the serious housing shortage, the elimination of substandard and other inadequate housing through the clearance of slums and blighted areas, and the realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family, thus contributing to the development and redevelopment of communities and to the advancement of the growth, wealth, and security of the Nation. The Congress further declares that such production is necessary to enable the housing industry to make its full contribution toward an economy of maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. The policy to be followed in attaining the national housing objective established shall be:

(1) private enterprise shall be encouraged to serve as large a part of the total need as it can;

(2) governmental assistance shall be utilized where feasible to enable private enterprise to serve more of the total need;

(3) appropriate local public bodies shall be encouraged and assisted to undertake positive programs of encouraging and assisting the development of well-planned, integrated residential neighborhoods, the development and redevelopment of communities, and the production, at lower costs, of housing of sound standards of design, construction, livability, and size for adequate family life;

(4) governmental assistance to eliminate substandard and other inadequate housing through the clearance of slums and blighted areas, to facilitate community development and redevelopment, and to provide adequate housing for urban and rural nonfarm families with incomes so low that they are not being decently housed in new or existing housing shall be extended to those localities which estimate their own needs and demonstrate that these needs are not being met through reliance solely upon private enterprise, and without such aid; and

(5) governmental assistance for decent, safe, and sanitary farm dwellings and related facilities shall be extended where the farm owner demonstrates that he lacks sufficient resources to provide such housing on his own account and is unable to secure necessary credit for such housing from other sources on terms and conditions which he could reasonably be expected to fulfill. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, and any other departments or agencies of the Federal Government having powers, functions, or duties with respect to housing, shall exercise their powers, functions, and duties under this or any other law, consistently with the national housing policy declared by this Act and in such manner as will facilitate sustained progress in attaining the national housing objective hereby established, and in such manner as will encourage and assist

(1) the production of housing of sound standards of design, construction, livability, and size for adequate family life;

(2) the reduction of the costs of housing without sacrifice of such sound standards;

(3) the use of new designs, materials, techniques, and methods in residential construction, the use of standardized dimensions and methods of assembly of home-building materials and equipment, and the increase of efficiency in residential construction and maintenance;

(4) the development of well-planned, integrated, residential neighborhoods and the development and redevelopment of communities; and

(5) the stabilization of the housing industry at a high annual volume of residential construction.

42 USC 1441a - National housing goals

(a) Congressional findings and reaffirmation of goals
The Congress finds that the supply of the Nations housing is not increasing rapidly enough to meet the national housing goal, established in the Housing Act of 1949 [42 U.S.C. 1441 et seq.], of the realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family. The Congress reaffirms this national housing goal and determines that it can be substantially achieved within the next decade by the construction or rehabilitation of twenty-six million housing units, six million of these for low and moderate income families.

(b) Additional Congressional findings
The Congress further finds that policies designed to contribute to the achievement of the national housing goal have not directed sufficient attention and resources to the preservation of existing housing and neighborhoods, that the deterioration and abandonment of housing for the Nations lower income families has accelerated over the last decade, and that this acceleration has contributed to neighborhood disintegration and has partially negated the progress toward achieving the national housing goal which has been made primarily through new housing construction.

(c) Congressional declaration of purposes
The Congress declares that if the national housing goal is to be achieved, a greater effort must be made to encourage the preservation of existing housing and neighborhoods through such measures as housing preservation, moderate rehabilitation, and improvements in housing management and maintenance, in conjunction with the provision of adequate municipal services. Such an effort should concentrate, to a greater extent than it has in the past, on housing and neighborhoods where deterioration is evident but has not yet become acute.

42 USC 1441b - Plan for elimination of all substandard housing and realization of national housing goal; report by President to Congress

Not later than January 15, 1969, the President shall make a report to the Congress setting forth a plan, to be carried out over a period of ten years (June 30, 1968, to June 30, 1978), for the elimination of all substandard housing and the realization of the goal referred to in section 1441a of this title. Such plan shall

(1) indicate the number of new or rehabilitated housing units which it is anticipated will have to be provided, with or without Government assistance, during each fiscal year of the ten-year period, in order to achieve the objectives of the plan, showing the number of such units which it is anticipated will have to be provided under each of the various Federal programs designed to assist in the provision of housing;

(2) indicate the reduction in the number of occupied substandard housing units which it is anticipated will have to occur during each fiscal year of the ten-year period in order to achieve the objectives of the plan;

(3) provide an estimate of the cost of carrying out the plan for each of the various Federal programs and for each fiscal year during the ten-year period to the extent that such costs will be reflected in the Federal budget;

(4) make recommendations with respect to the legislative and administrative actions necessary or desirable to achieve the objectives of the plan; and

(5) provide such other pertinent data, estimates, and recommendations as the President deems advisable.

Such report shall, in addition, contain a projection of the residential mortgage market needs and prospects during the coming year, including an estimate of the requirements with respect to the availability, need, and flow of mortgage funds (particularly in declining urban and rural areas) during such year, together with such recommendations as may be deemed appropriate for encouraging the availability of such funds.

42 USC 1441c - Omitted

42 USC 1442 - Repealed. Aug. 31, 1954, ch. 1158, 7, 68 Stat. 1026

Section, act July 15, 1949, ch. 338, title VI, 607, 63 Stat. 441, related to housing census. See section 141 of Title 13, Census.

42 USC 1443 - Provisions as controlling over other laws

Insofar as the provisions of any other law are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall be controlling.

42 USC 1444 - Separability

Except as may be otherwise expressly provided in this Act, all powers and authorities conferred by this Act shall be cumulative and additional to and not in derogation of any powers and authorities otherwise existing. Notwithstanding any other evidences of the intention of Congress, it is declared to be the controlling intent of Congress that if any provisions of this Act, or the application thereof to any persons or circumstances, shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this Act or its applications to other persons and circumstances, but shall be confined in its operation to the provision of this Act, or the application thereof to the persons and circumstances directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.

42 USC 1445 - Repealed. Aug. 9, 1955, ch. 690, 4(1), 69 Stat. 625

Section, act July 15, 1949, ch. 338, title VI, 612, 63 Stat. 444, related to striking or subversive employees of the Housing and Home Finance Agency and the Department of Agriculture, withholding of their wages, and penalties. See sections 3333 and 7311 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and section 1918 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.