This article will focus on the evolution of federal housing policy, from the first policies of the 1930s to current policies, with consideration for changing priorities within the programs . The numerous goals and a brief history of housing policy in the United States will be established. With a dilution of goals and many responsibilities, the emphasis will be on low-income housing and the role the federal government plays. The many changes in attitudes towards public assistance will be discussed, as the government has moved from building and providing housing to providing demand-side vouchers. Three case studies of individual cities will serve as case studies to demonstrate these principles. There were some early federally sponsored real estate investigations. The first, in 1892, was a report on city slums in four different cities. In 1909, a report from the President's Housing Commission recommended that the federal government purchase slum slums and then improve or replace them so that there would be healthier homes for the poor. (108th Congress of the United States House of Representatives, 2004) Although these recommendations were not followed, this shows that the government was aware of the development of slum-like conditions, but still took no action based on these studies or recommendations. Meanwhile, the federal government stepped in to house workers and soldiers during World War I. In 1918, real estate companies were allowed to use federal loans to build housing for shipyard workers. The U.S. Housing Corporation, in existence for a short time during World War I, was authorized to build and operate community housing for many different wars, when the...... middle of paper ...... ng Act of 1974 introduced major changes to federal housing policy once again. Community development global grants have been established; communities would compete for these grants and they could be used for various housing and community improvements. Section 8 was also established. This changed subsidies to allow the federal government to pay the difference between fair market rent and 30% of residents' income. Could be applied to new or existing privately owned housing; to qualify for the subsidy, residents had to be “low income” or earn less than 80% of the median income based on family size. To improve the attractiveness of Section 8 to building societies and banks, the Tandem Agreement was created in 1974. Works Cited http://www.knowledgeplex.org/kp/text_document_summary/scholarly_article/relfiles/hpd_0202_listokin.pdf