Federal Financing Programs

Post-1945 suburbia was supported by the financial foundation of the Federal Housing Administration's low-down-payment, long-term, fixed-rate mortgage, which made homeownership more accessible to the middle class. Moreover, FHA mortgage insurance was channeled in ways that physically shaped the postwar metropolis. For example, the FHA refused to insure mortgages on older houses in inner city urban neighborhoods. Private enterprise capitalized on these federal initiatives. Mass-produced housing that could be cheaply and speedily erected in suburban tracts was pioneered by Levitt & Sons in Long Island and, through financing mechanisms, became the standard “consumer good” in the 1950s.