United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

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**Department of Housing and Urban Development**

Established:	September 9, 1965
Activated:	January 13, 1966
Secretary:	Alphonso Jackson
Deputy Secretary:	Roy Bernardi
Budget:	28.5 billion (2006)
Employees:	10,600 (2004)

The 'United States Department of Housing and Urban Development', often abbreviated HUD, is a Cabinet department of the United States government. Although its beginnings were in the House and Home Financing Agency, it was founded in 1965 to develop and execute policy on housing and cities. It has largely scaled back its urban development function and now focuses primarily on housing.

The department was established on September 9, 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act (PL 89-174) into law. It stipulated that the department was to be created no later than November 8, sixty days following the date of enactment. The actual implementation was postponed until January 13, 1966, following the completion of a special study group report on the federal role in solving urban problems.

HUD has experimented with Enterprise Zones - granting economic incentives to economically depressed urban areas, but this function has largely been taken over by states.

HUD is administered by the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

1 History
2 Operating units
3 Accounting Problems at HUD
4 Related legislation
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

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Larry Thompson, who served in senior positions for 25 years at HUD, has written A History of HUD, which he hopes it will be of value to a wide audience interested in housing and community development.

[edit] Operating units

The major program offices are:

Community Planning and Development: Many major affordable housing and homelessness programs are administered under Community Planning and Development. These include the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), the HOME program, Shelter Plus Care, Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG), Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program (Mod Rehab SRO), and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA).
Housing: This office is responsible for the Federal Housing Administration; mission regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; regulation of Manufactured Housing; administration of Multifamily housing programs, including Supportive Housing for the Elderly (Section 202) and Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities (Section 811); and Healthcare facility loan insurance.
Public and Indian Housing: This office administers the public housing, HOPE VI, and (Section 8) programs, and housing block grants for Indian tribes, Native Hawaiians and Alaskans.
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity: This office enforces Federal laws against discrimination against minority households, families with children, and persons with disability.
Policy Development and Research (PD&R): This office is responsible for maintaining current information on housing needs, market conditions,and existing programs, as well as conducting research on priority housing and community development issues through the HUD USER Clearinghouse.
Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)
Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control.

[edit] Accounting Problems at HUD

Susan Gaffney, Inspector General of HUD, testified before Congress in 2000 that she could not sign off on the fiscal 1999 audit because of “the undetermined effects of the conversion problems of the general ledger from the Program Accounting System [PAS] to HUD’s Central Account and Program System [HUDCAPS] during the fiscal year, the integrated state of HUD’s reconciliation efforts and their documentation for the general ledger accounts for the fund balance with Treasury, and the late manual posting of numerous and significant adjustments (some as late as Feb. 25, 2000) directly to the financial statements, for which we lacked sufficient time to test their legitimacy.”^[1]

[edit] Related legislation

1944 - Servicemen's Readjustment Act PL 78-346
1949 - Housing Act PL 81-171
1950 - Housing Act PL 81-475
1951 - Defense Housing Act PL 82-139
1952 - 550 Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act PL 82-325,
1954 - Housing Act PL 83-560
1959 - Housing Act PL 86-372
1962 - Senior Citizens Housing Act PL 87-723
1965 - Housing and Urban Development Act PL 89-117
1965 - Department of Housing and Urban Development Act PL 89-174
1968 - Housing and Urban Development Act PL 90-448
1974 - Housing and Urban Development Act PL 93-383
1976 - Housing and Urban Development Act PL 94-375
1986 - Tax Reform Act PL 99-514
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
1987 - Housing and Urban Development Act PL 100-242
1987 - McKinney Homeless Assistance Act PL 100-77
1989 - Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989
1990 - National Affordable Housing Act PL 101-625
1992 - Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act PL 102-550

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Gaffney's testimony documenting $17 billion of undocumentable adjustments in fiscal 1998 and $59 billion of undocumentable adjustments in fiscal 1999 [1].

[edit] External links

v • d • e United States Federal Executive Departments
Agriculture • Commerce • Defense • Education • Energy • Health and Human Services • Homeland Security • Housing and Urban Development • Interior • Justice • Labor • State • Transportation • Treasury • Veterans Affairs Past departments: Commerce and Labor • Health, Education, and Welfare • Navy • Post Office • War

v • d • e Agencies under the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Community Development Block Grants • Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity • Federal Housing Administration • Government National Mortgage Association • Office of Policy Development and Research • Office of Public and Indian Housing