¹ The United States Housing Authority, was enacted Sept. 1, 1987, 60 Stat. 888.

² Enacted July 22, 1932, 47 Stat. 725.

³ Enacted June 13, 1933, 48 Stat. 128.

⁴ Enacted June 27, 1934, 48 Stat. 1246.

⁵ Real property Inventories conducted in two hundred urban areas from 1934 to 1936 revealed that more than two-fifths of all occupied units reporting were tenanted by owners. Over one-half of the owner-occupied single-family dwellings were mortgaged. Works Progress Administration, Division of Social Research, Urban Housing; A Summary of Real Property inventories Conducted at Work Projects, 1934–1936 (Washington, 1938), pp. 7, 9 Google Scholar. It is estimated that the national total of home mortgages in 1930 amounted to twenty-two billion dollars. Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Fifth Annual Report, 1936–1937, p. 6.Google Scholar

⁶ Complete self-liquidation was never imposed as the single guiding principle of refinancing. The President, in his message to Congress accompanying the Home Owners' Loan Bill, stated: “The terms are such as to impose the least possible charge upon the National Treasury consistent with the objects sought.” Congressional Record, Vol. 77, p. 1618 Google Scholar.

⁷ Even a subsequent record of H.O.L.C. foreclosures that by 1940 reached some 17 per cent of the original number of loans, and a record of losses in the disposal of acquired properties that averages around a thousand dollars a sale, have brought forth no concerted attack. See the statement made before the House subcommittee at hearings on the Independent Offices Appropriation Bill for 1941 in December, 1939. Hearings, p. 1155.

⁸ In 1930, there were close to 12,000 savings and loan associations in the United States, with nearly nine billion dollars in assets and over twelve million members. Bodfish, H. Morton, History of Building and Loan in the United States (United States Building and Loan Leagus, Chicago, 1931), p. 136, teble IGoogle Scholar. Savings and loan annotations draw their funds from small, share investments of people of modest income. They have loaned almost exclusively on home properties, and their loans have generally been for relatively long terms with regular amortisation of principal. See Bodfish, Morton and Theobald, A. D., Savings and Loan Principles (Now York, 1933), Chaps. 7–8Google Scholar.

⁹ Insured Mertgage Pertfelis, April, 1940, p. 4 Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Fifth Annual Report, 1936–1937, p. 6 Google Scholar.

¹¹ See Palyi, Melchior, Principles of Mortgage Banking Regulations in Europs, Studies in Business Administration, V, No. 1 (University of Chicago Press, 1934)Google Scholar. Mortgage bond houses did make their appearance in this country during the twenties, but these houses specialised primarily in large commercial properties, apartment developments, hotels, and office buildings. The private mortgage bond structurs collapsed completely in the depression.

¹² See The President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership, II, Report of the Committee on Finance and Taxation, 1932 Google Scholar.

¹³ Since the end of the World War, the savings and loan associations had been urging legislation for a reserve system. In 1919, the Calder-Nolan Bill was introduced, H. R. 7597 and S. 2492, 66th Cong., 1st Secs. The bill was reintroduced perennially in the following sessions of Congress until in 1928 the associations agreed to discontinue the effort. Bodfish, History, p. 214.

¹⁴ By 1940, cumulative advances of $581,922,000 had been made and repayments amounted to $400,609,000, leaving $181,313,000 outstanding. Federal Home Loan Bank Review, Feb., 1940, p. 163 Google Scholar. During fiscal 1939, mortgage loans by member associations accounted for 79 per cent of loans by all savings and loan associations. Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Seventh Annual Report, 1938–1939, p. 75 Google Scholar.

¹⁵ The cumulative amount of all five issues is $142,700,000, all but $48,500,000 of which has now been retired. Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Seventh Annual Report, 1938–1939, pp. 65–66 Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Home Owners' Loan Act, Sec. 5, 48 Stat. 132–134.

¹⁷ Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Second Annual Report, 1984, p. 113 Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Ibid., p. 111.

¹⁹ Ibid., Exhibit D, pp. 108–136.

²⁰ 49 Stat. 297. The new funds might also be used for the purchase of Home Loan Bank debentures.

²¹ Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Sixth Annual Report, 1937–1938, p. 144 Google Scholar.

²² At the end of fiscal 1939, investments of the Treasury and the H.O.L.C in federal associations alone amounted to $217,025,500, or nearly 18 per cent of the entire capital of federal associations. Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Annual Report, 1938–1939, exhibits 36 and 37, pp. 200–301 Google Scholar.

²³ See New York Times, Dec. 10, 1986, 46:1 Google Scholar.

²⁴ Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Third Annual Report. Jan-June, 1925, exhibit C, p. 26 Google Scholar.

²⁵ Federal Home Loan Bank Serious, Feb., 1940, p. 101 Google Scholar.

²⁶ Ibid., p. 100.

²⁷ See Federal Home Loan Board, Fourth Annual Report, 1935–1936, p. 28 Google Scholar.

²⁸ Federal Home Loan Bank Review, Fab., 1940, p. 162 Google Scholar.

²⁹ During 1938 the rate of increase in accounts was as follows: For an identical group of 1,309 federal associations, 21.8 per cent; for an identical group of 547 insured state associations, 6.4 per cent; for an identical group of 901 non-insured associations, 0.5 per cent. Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Seventh Annual Report, 1938–1939, p. 40 Google Scholar.

³⁰ Ibid., pp. 107–108.

³¹ At the end of fiscal 1939, potential liabilities amounted to $1,725,000,000, against which the Insuranca Corporation had, in addition to its $100,000,000 capital, approximately $20,000,000 in surplus and reserves. Ibid., p. 118. Through the fiscal 1980, it had been nsccssery for the Corporation to make settlements in only seven cases, to a gross amount of $390,000. Ibid., p. 113. However, during fiscal 1940, additional contributions were expected to reach approximately a million and a half dollars. House Hearings on the Independent Offices Appropriation Bill for 1941, p. 1149.

³² See statements before the Senate committee by Russell, Horace, general counsel for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Hearings, p. 67 Google Scholar, and by Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Eccles, ibid., pp. 154, 156–7.

³³ For approval by the durable goods Industries, see New York Times, May 21, 1934, 33:1, May 34, 1934, 8:8 Google Scholar.

³⁴ William Green, of the American Federation of Labor, was active in his support of the act. For a statement by him, see Congressional Record, Vol. 78, p. 11213 Google Scholar. As for the realty Interests, their position was somewhat peculiar. In the early months of 1934, the National Association of Real Estate Boards had once again raised the issue of a federal mortgage discount bank for the purchase from individuals as well as Institutions of both home and rental property mortgages. National Real Estate Journal, Mar., 1934, p. 51 Google Scholar. The realty group was not entirely satisfied with the limited provisions of the Housing Bill, but accepted it as at least a first step. Ibid., June, 1934, p. 11, and July, 1934, p. 15. Not until late in 1934 did the National Association declare its formal approval, and then only under the threat of expanded P.W.A. low-rent housing. See New York Times, Nov. 25, 1934, 2:5 Google Scholar.

³⁵ No acount can be given here of F.H. A. insurance of modernisation loans under Title of the act. However, it is important to note that in the beginning F.H.A. commitments mainly concerned small short-term modernisation and repair loans on very liberal terms. A favorable response by home-owmers and by lending institutions opened the way for popular acceptance of the mortgage insurance program behalf.

³⁶ The new provisions will be found is an act of Feb. 3, 1923, 52 Stat. 8.

³⁷ Insured Mortgage Pertfelis, April, 1940, p. 26 Google Scholar.

³⁸ At the end of 1939, federal agencies held F.H.A. mortgages aggregating $152,715,654 in original amount, of 8.5 per cent of all insured mortgages. Ibid., p. 3.

³⁹ At the end of 1939, premium-paying mortgages on rental and group housing projects amounted to $113, 934, 775. There were, in addition, outstanding commitments of $25,437,500. Insured Mortgage Portfelis, Feb., 1940, p. 17 Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ See, however, the favorable record thus far of F.H.A. rental projects, Ibid., Apr., 1940, pp. 11–12, 24.

⁴¹ The F.H.A. operates more than 100 field offices. It employs a staff of some 4,000 employees. Currently, its annual administrative expenses exceed $13,000,000. House Hearings on the Independent Offices Appropriation Bill for 1941, p. 1091.

⁴² See H. R. 6971, 76th Cong.

⁴³ The statements presented before the House committee at hearings on the proposed amendments give every indication of concerted action among the banking interests in preparing thatr case. See House Hearings on H. R. 5535 (superesded by H. R. 6671), Seventy-sixth Congress, First Session, 1939.