When in 1938 was the National Housing Act put into place in Canada and why was is significant?
The NHA is important because it is the first Act to provide for the funding of social housing in Canada. There had been two previous Acts establishing some federal policy and support in the housing sector to reduce the risk to mortgage lenders because of the many defaults that had occurred through the Depression years. But the NHA provided an opportunity for credit-worthy people to buy homes and, with the provinces, to provide funds or guarantees for the construction of low-rent housing. I looked for a precise date for the GG signing the Bill into law but it would take more then the signing for the policy to be effective and I was unable to determine the first date it was used.
