Housing and Urban Development, Department of (HUD), is an executive department of the United States government. The department works to increase the affordability and quality of housing in the United States. It also helps cities improve their economies and revive run-down neighborhoods.
HUD is headed by the secretary of housing and urban development, a member of the president’s Cabinet. The secretary is appointed by the president, subject to approval by the U.S. Senate.
Functions.
HUD helps make housing more affordable partly by insuring mortgages. The insurance increases the willingness of banks to grant mortgages to home buyers and to people who wish to build or improve rental units. A HUD agency known as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) provides the insurance. 
Another HUD agency, the Government National Mortgage Association, works to increase the availability of mortgages by attracting investors to the home mortgage market. The association is often referred to by its initials, GNMA, and by the nickname Ginnie Mae.
HUD also helps provide decent housing for low-income families. For example, it grants federal funds to local housing authorities for the construction, operation, and modernization of public housing. Public housing is built specifically to provide homes for low-income people. HUD pays the difference between the cost of maintaining public housing and the rents that low-income families can afford. HUD also promotes resident management and ownership of public housing. In addition, it makes loans to sponsors of nonprofit housing for elderly or disabled people.
HUD grants money to state and local governments to assist in financing community-development programs. Cities and urban counties use HUD funds to help revive their economies and to replace slums with improved neighborhoods. Some HUD funds are used to provide shelter and services for homeless people.
HUD promotes fair housing and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, religion, sex, or national origin. It also seeks equal opportunity for the disabled and for families with children. The department’s website at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD presents information on its activities.
History.
The United States government took an active part in housing long before HUD was created in 1965. The Great Depression of the 1930’s caused widespread financial hardship. In 1934, Congress established the Federal Housing Administration to provide mortgage insurance programs. Congress founded the United States Housing Authority in 1937 to help finance public housing for the poor. The two agencies were joined under the National Housing Agency in 1942. They became part of the Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA) in 1947.
Rapid urban growth during the 1950’s and 1960’s caused many housing and community problems. Congress created the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1965 to solve such problems. The HHFA and all of its programs were transferred to HUD and became the core of the new department.
In the 1980’s, Congress reduced HUD’s role in urban renewal by sharply cutting federal aid for the revival of run-down neighborhoods. As a result, much of the burden of financing urban renewal shifted to city and state governments.
