As governor of New York, Al Smith began public housing programs for low-income employed workers.

The courts ruled the PWA lacked eminent domain power to condemn slums, so the Housing Act of 1937 envisioned a long-term federal role under the new agency, the USHA.

Wagner obtained support from conservative leaders Robert A. Taft and Allen Ellender to guarantee a bipartisan approach.

Critics eventually pointed to the culture of poverty, violence, drugs, crime and hopelessness that thrived in the "vertical ghetto" as a refutation of the original Progressive theory.

The Housing Division of the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works was established pursuant to the National Industrial Recovery Act, June 16, 1933.

[1] It assumed, from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, administration of the limited dividend program under the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, July 21, 1932.