About the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the principal Federal agency responsible for programs concerned with the Nation's housing needs, fair housing opportunities, and improvement and development of the Nation's communities.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was established in the 1965 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3532-3537). It was created to:

administer the principal programs that provide assistance for housing and for the development of the Nation's communities; 

encourage the solution of housing and community development problems through States and localities; and

encourage the maximum contributions that may be made by vigorous private homebuilding and mortgage lending industries, both primary and secondary, to housing, community development, and the national economy.