Great Depression and New Deal Primary Sources | Franklin D. Roosevelt: Excerpt From "Recommendation for Legislation to Provide Assistance"

Excerpt from "Recommendation for Legislation to Provide Assistance for Repairing and Construction of Homes, May 14, 1934"

Reprinted from The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt: Volume Three, 1934
Published in 1938

"The protection of the health and safety of the people demands that this renovizing [repairing] and building be done speedily."

Franklin D. Roosevelt

As part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal economic policies, two pieces of legislation were passed by Congress to deal with the ailing home financing systems and the construction industry. On June 13, 1933, just three months after Roosevelt took office, Congress passed the Home Owners' Refinancing Act, which created the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC). The HOLC was an emergency agency whose goal was to stop the avalanche of...