Low Income Home Loans as Public Policy

Since World War II, the United States government has developed public policies that aim to increase opportunities for home ownership through direct housing grants, loan guarantees, and targeted tax breaks (Dye, 2001). For many low-income families, these policies enabled them to purchase a home.

Many of these policies were focused on providing assistance to low-income people. The Housing Act of 1959 expanded the Federal Housing Association's (FHA) aggregate loan-granting authority and raised the limits on individual mortgages (Dye, 2001). The FHA now had the power to assume defaulted mortgages on family homes to prevent foreclosure. Congress extended FHA coverage to new or rehabilitated buildings in which low-income, elderly residents occupied half the units. Low-interest loans and community renewal programs also rose in priority. Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1965.

The Housing and Urban Development Act of...
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