The US Housing Act of 1949 set a national goal of 'a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family' and funded slum clearance and urban redevelopment under its Title I provisions. It gave local public authorities federal subsidies and the power to use eminent domain to assemble, clear and resell whole districts to private or public developers. It also authorised a large public-housing programme. In practice, redevelopment frequently outpaced rehousing.
The Act launched the urban-renewal era, under which authorities cleared and often demolished established inner-city neighbourhoods, displacing large numbers of mostly poor and minority residents. Its legacy of 'slum clearance' reshaped American downtowns and prompted lasting critiques of top-down redevelopment.