Federal Housing Policy

Upon entering office, President Reagan proposed a fundamental shift in federal housing policy, the ultimate intent of which was to eliminate a federal role in the supply of housing (Congressional Quarterly, 1986). As a consequence, he refused to approve any legislation which created new federal housing programs, or increased funding for existing federal housing programs (Congressional Quarterly, 1988). In fact, in most instances, he refused to sign into law any housing legislation which did not either reduce federal housing funding, or, in some way, limit the scope of federal activity in the provision of housing. Although both houses of Congress were able to pass bills expanding federal funding for housing with large majorities (even in the Republican controlled Senate during the 1981-1982 time period), the Senate was never able to override a Reagan veto of a housing bill (even after the Republicans lost their majority position in that house).

It was not until 1987 that President Reagan finally agreed to sign a bill which included some modest funding increases for federal housing programs in the 1988

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rs create a greater political impact. A greater political impact, they hope, can be translated into effective action to relieve the plight of the homeless. Conversely, the Reagan Administration's political agenda had no room for the homeless. Acknowledging their existence would have created both budgetary and policy problems. As a consequence, the Reagan Administration attempted to define the homeless out of existence, by contending that most of the homeless are simply persons temporarily between permanent residences. The Department of Housing and Urban Development attempted to minimize the scope of the problem (Ehrlich, 1988)--an approach eagerly endorsed by many in the nation's business community, who worried that an acknowledgement of a major homelessness problem will translate into higher federal taxes (Magnet, 1987). An accurate estimate of the number of homeless persons likely falls at some point between the estimates of the advocacy groups and those of the federal government, that is somewhere between 400 thousand and three million at any given time. A mid-point between these estimates would place about three-quarters of one-percent of the American population in the homeless classification some point within a given
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3406
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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