The objective of national housing policy shall be to reaffirm the long-established national commitment to decent, safe, and sanitary housing for every American by strengthening a nationwide partnership of public and private institutions able—

(1) to ensure that every resident of the United States has access to decent shelter or assistance in avoiding homelessness;

(2) to increase the Nation’s supply of decent housing that is affordable to low-income and moderate-income families and accessible to job opportunities;

(3) to improve housing opportunities for all residents of the United States, particularly members of disadvantaged minorities, on a nondiscriminatory basis;

(4) to help make neighborhoods safe and livable;

(5) to expand opportunities for homeownership;

(6) to provide every American community with a reliable, readily available supply of mortgage finance at the lowest possible interest rates; and

(7) to encourage tenant empowerment and reduce generational poverty in federally assisted and public housing by improving the means by which self-sufficiency may be achieved.

Terms Used In 42 USC 12702

  • housing: includes manufactured housing and manufactured housing lots and elder cottage housing opportunity units that are small, free-standing, barrier-free, energy-efficient, removable, and designed to be installed adjacent to existing 1- to 4-family dwellings. See 42 USC 12704
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.