The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Housing and Community Development (HCD) Act of 1974, which created several programs–including the Housing Choice Voucher program, the Project Based Rental Assistance program and Community Block Development Grant program—to provide access to quality, safe, affordable homes for all.
Collectively, these programs ensure families have access to affordable housing. Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman said the programs are in the spirit of the Biden-Harris administration.
“Like President Biden and Vice President Harris, I believe there is nothing Americans can’t do when we do it together,” said Todman. “The groundbreaking programs we are celebrating today have provided affordable housing to countless Americans in urban, suburban, and rural communities. These programs demonstrate that when we act boldly, we meaningfully improve people’s daily lives.”
Todman also said there’s more work to do.
“We also know there is more to be done and that is why this administration has proposed ambitious new housing investments and we call on Congress to act to help people with current high housing costs,” she said.
On August 22, 1974, the HCD Act was signed into law, to provide the foundations for better housing for all Americans and boost the long-range prospects of a robust domestic housing market. The legislation helped build the nation’s largest housing programs to meet the needs of lower-income households.
The legislation also authorized the creation of a nationwide performance-based building code for manufactured housing, which simultaneously improved the safety of new manufactured housing, improved efficiency of mass production and reduced construction costs. Today, the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, commonly known as the “HUD Code,” remains the preemptive federal standard for ensuring that manufactured housing – which houses more than 20 million Americans – remains safe, durable, and affordable.
