Urban homesteading is a process where the government turns over abandoned houses to those willing to rehabilitate and inhabit them for a specified period of time.
Urban homesteading was originally developed by Mayor Thomas C. Maloney, in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1974 to reduce their inventory of tax-delinquent properties.
In 1974, under Section 810 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Congress authorized the Urban Homesteading Demonstration (1975-1977) which involved the transfer of vacant VA and FHA-foreclosed properties to 23 state and local agencies at no cost.
In June 1982 ACORN constructed a tent city in Washington, D.C. and organized a congressional meeting to call attention to plight of the homeless.
This brought in a period of local urban homesteading where tax delinquent properties on the city level were included in the program.