Editing Great Society (section)

===Housing===


Under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 loans were authorized "to low income farm families for small farm improvements and nonfarm enterprises that would add to family income."<ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=8pI_qRvmrggC&dq=The+Economic+Opportunity+Act+of+1964+authorized+loans+to+low+income+farm+families&pg=PA24 Information for Farmers Home Administration County Committees 1982, P.24]</ref> That same year a Housing Act was introduced<ref>[https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg769.pdf PUBLIC LAW 88-560-SEPT. 2, 1964]</ref><ref>[https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal64-1304358 Housing Act Expands Existing Programs An article from CQ Almanac 1964]</ref> which improved the quality of the housing program by requiring minimum standards of code enforcement, providing assistance to dislocated families and small businesses and authorizing below market interest loans for rehabilitating housing in urban renewal areas.<ref name="adaction1964"/><ref>[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-upon-signing-the-housing-act-0 Remarks Upon Signing the Housing Act September 02, 1964]</ref> In 1965, the rural housing program was converted to one largely funded on an insured-loan basis, which opened the way "for a great increase in volume of the program and expanded the loan program for rural waste systems to a loan and grant program for water and waste disposal systems, raising the maximum population of rural towns served to 5,500 and maximum financing per project to $4 million. In addition, the annual ceiling on insured loans for community facilities and farm ownership was increased from $200 million to $450 million. New housing legislation in 1966 removed a 62-year age minimum "on tenants of low income rural rent housing financed through the agency, and on borrowers obtaining individual housing loans on the basis of cosigners. It also authorized FmHa to finance purchase of newly-constructed homes."<ref name="books.google.com"/>

The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 included important elements such as rent subsidies for low-income families, rehabilitation grants to enable low-income homeowners in urban renewal areas to improve their homes instead of relocating elsewhere, and improved and extended benefits for relocation payments.<ref name="adaction1965"/> The Demonstration Cities Act of 1966 established a new program for comprehensive neighborhood renewal, with an emphasis on strategic investments in housing renovation, urban services, neighborhood facilities, and job creation activities.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Cm_8yPD1uUC&q=demonstration+cities+program+1966&pg=PA20 |title=Reality and Research: Social Science and U.S. Urban Policy Since 1960  |access-date=August 26, 2013|isbn=9780877666394 |last1=Galster |first1=George C. |year=1996 |publisher=The Urban Institute }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXB5QneDfVQC&q=88th+Congress+welfare&pg=PA225 |title=The Presidency, Congress, and Divided Government: A Postwar Assessment |first=Richard Steven |last=Conley |access-date=August 26, 2013|isbn=9781603446815 |year=2002 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press }}</ref> The Disaster Relief Act of 1966 authorized HUD, as noted by one study, “to refinance loans when necessary because of the loss, destruction or damage to property securing the loans as the result of a major disaster.” <ref>[https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-108HPRT92629/html/CPRT-108HPRT92629.htm A CHRONOLOGY OF HOUSING LEGISLATION AND SELECTED EXECUTIVE ACTIONS, 1892-2003]</ref>