President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs were a campaign to continue the domestic policy work of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, who had been ready to initiate a number of reforms before his assassination in 1963. Johnson’s goals were to eliminate economic and racial disparities in society, leading him to pass such legislation as the Civil Rights Act in 1964. In 1965, Johnson created the Cabinet office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, to answer the challenge of poverty and homelessness in American cities.

HUD’s stated mission is “to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all…to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.” HUD administers or has administered a number of programs in urban markets, including financial incentives for home buyers in economically depressed communities, grants for renovation, and the provision of service workers for the elderly in order to allow them to remain in their own homes rather than be moved to a facility. They provide counseling services for new homebuyers and also function with enforcement authority regarding the Fair Housing Act, hearing and prosecuting complaints regarding housing discrimination. As a Cabinet-level department, HUD also oversees a number of other departments and corporations, including the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which insures mortgages, and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), which guarantees certain loans and makes mortgages more affordable to lower-income home buyers.

HUD operates its own department of Policy Development and Research to gather and analyze the statistical data from its own programs. They are then able to revise existing programs, phase out those that are clearly ineffective, or consider options for new ones. All of the information is made available for public examination via HUD USER, a web-based resource. HUD USER also publishes four periodicals: ResearchWorks, Breakthroughs, Cityscape, and U.S. Housing Market Conditions. ResearchWorks is devoted to case studies regarding housing; Breakthroughs looks at new strategies and resources, Cityscape spotlights innovative ideas or policies that will improve urban housing programs, and U.S. Housing Market Conditions gives regional and historical synopses of specific housing markets throughout the nation.

Today, HUD has taken a central role in resolving the economic crisis, much of which was caused by housing and lending practices. The Obama administration has devoted several million dollars to HUD in order to implement foreclosure-prevention programs and offer grants for housing counseling and development. The state of the housing market has been significantly destabilized by the financial downturn, and the high rate of unemployment has created a glut of loan defaults. HUD currently works to reverse the trend of the housing market and provide avenues for all citizens to own their own homes, even in the midst of such economic turmoil.

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