Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937
The Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937 was a significant piece of legislation in the United States aimed at addressing housing shortages during the Great Depression. Advocated by housing reformers, the act established the U.S. Housing Agency to facilitate the construction of government-owned housing developments, primarily focusing on low-income families. This was seen as a way to create jobs in the struggling construction industry, while also addressing widespread housing needs.
The act included provisions for means testing, which limited public housing access to the poorest individuals, inadvertently stigmatizing such housing as a refuge for the marginalized. Additionally, it placed restrictions on the location and cost of public housing, resulting in the construction of basic, no-frills units predominantly in disadvantaged urban areas. Despite its intention to alleviate housing issues, the act led to a federal housing system that often isolated lower-income residents instead of fostering mixed-income communities. The Wagner-Steagall Act's legacy remains a topic of discussion regarding its impact on housing policy and urban development in America.
Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937
The Law Federal legislation funding the construction of public-housing units
Also known as United States Housing Act of 1937
Date September 1, 1937
The Wagner-Steagall Housing Act was the first major federal legislation funding construction of low-income residences owned and operated by the government. It established the public-housing system in the United States and attempted to stimulate construction jobs during the Great Depression.
Housing advocates pushed for publicly owned housing developments during the early 1930’s. They argued for a broad-based housing program run by nonprofit organizations to provide high-density residences for people of all incomes. The concept gained credence during the Great Depression as a means of providing jobs for the hard-hit construction industry. Critics argued that the concept would depress prices for private homes and encourage the socialization of housing.
Housing advocates found a willing sponsor in New York senator Robert F. Wagner in 1935. His legislation floundered for a couple of years but eventually gained support from President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a jobs-creation bill. Cosponsored by Alabama representative Henry Bascom Steagall, the final law was signed on September 1, 1937. The legislation contained three key provisions. First, it created the U.S. Housing Agency to distribute money for the construction of government-owned housing. However, the actual decisions on whether, and where, to build housing were left to local housing authorities. Second, the act created a system of means testing to ensure that only truly poor people could gain residency in public housing. In the long term this helped to stigmatize public housing as a refuge for only the most marginalized in society. Finally, the act set limits on the location of public housing and constrained the cost of construction to five thousand dollars per unit. This resulted in the construction of sterile, amenity-free housing that was heavily concentrated in poor urban neighborhoods.
Impact
The housing act created the modern federal-housing system of decentralized housing authorities that made decisions on the basis of local preferences. It also consciously created a system of spartan housing that isolated the poorest in society rather than encouraging the creation of publicly owned housing that would compete with private sector development to attract all economic classes.
Bibliography
Bauman, John, Roger Biles, and Kristin Szylvian, eds. From Tenements to the Taylor Homes: In Search of an Urban Housing Policy in Twentieth-Century America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000.
Schwartz, Alex. Housing Policy in the United States: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2006.