Was the 1937 U.S. Housing Act a Pyrrhic Victory?

Abstract

Historians have wrongly portrayed the 1937 Housing Act, which established a permanent public housing program in the United States, as hopelessly compromised by amendments originating from real estate and conservative interests. With a close analysis of the legislative record and archival material, this article argues that most of these amendments originated from divisions among Progressives or from Senator David I. Walsh (D-MA), who wanted to serve the poor and clear slums. The 1937 Housing Act should be viewed as a Progressive bill that weathered the legislative process surprisingly well. Furthermore, public housing’s later struggles cannot be blamed on a law emasculated at its origination. Instead, historians should more carefully examine the implementation of the law as well as its Progressive assumptions.