The Urban Growth and New Community Development Act (Renamed National Urban Policy and New Community Development Act of 1970, , title VII, 1970-12-31, , et seq.) is a statute enacted by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in 1970. The act championed by Senator

Thomas W. L. Ashley Thomas William Ludlow "Lud" Ashley (January 11, 1923 – June 15, 2010) was an American businessman and politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. representative from Ohio from 1955 to 1981. Early life and education Ashley was b ...

, provided federal support for the development of

new towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

by private developers through the department of

Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Ur ...

. The New Community Development Corporation was formed to distribute and manage $500 million in bond guarantees to developers in increments of up to $50 million per project. Thirteen of these "Title VII" "New Towns" were established with HUD funds before the project was scrapped in 1978. New York State initiated a related program funding three additional communities. Most of the sites were green field development. The act allowed up to 75% of development costs to state agencies to be granted by the program, and planning grants of 66% of the cost of the development to be awarded directly to the developer. Provisions also allowed HUD funding for "functionally obsolete" buildings rather than the previous slum or blighted conditions requirement. The program was the update of the 1966 Model Cities program presented to President Johnson by

Walter P. Reuther Walter Philip Reuther (; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He ...

on 15 May 1965 leading to the

Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 (, ) is a major revision to federal housing policy in the United States which instituted several major expansions in federal housing programs. The United States Congress passed and President Lyndon B. ...

and the

Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, , was passed during the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration. The act came on the heels of major riots across cities throughout the U.S. in 1967, the assassination of Civil Rights Leader Martin Luthe ...

. A report was mandated every two years, with publication in 1972, 1974, and 1976

Title VII New Towns

Thirteen funded developments

* St. Charles, Maryland *

Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis Cedar-Riverside, also referred to as the West Bank, or simply Riverside, is a neighborhood within Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River to the north and east, Interstate 94 to the south, and Hiawatha Avenue and Inters ...

Jonathan, Minnesota Jonathan, Minnesota is a homeowners' association that is a remnant of a planned community development within the city of Chaska, Minnesota in Carver County. It was named for Jonathan Carver, for whom Carver County also is named. In 2008, it is th ...

Gananda, New York Gananda is a small "master planned community" (and census-designated place) in Wayne County, New York, United States, approximately twenty minutes outside the city of Rochester. Gananda is considered a community because it does not have its own ...

Flower Mound, Texas Flower Mound is an incorporated town located in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Located northwest of Dallas and northeast of Fort Worth adjacent to Grapevine Lake, the town derives its name from a prominent mound locate ...

* Harbison, South Carolina *

Maumelle, Arkansas Maumelle is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 19,251. The city is located northwest of Little Rock, bordering the opposite shore of the Arkansas River and is part of the Little R ...

* Newfields, Ohio * Park Forest South, Illinois *

Riverton, New York Riverton, New York, was a planned community built in 1973 in the town of Henrietta, New York, along the Genesee River. Riverton was seventh of the thirteen communities receiving federal guarantee assistance from HUD as part of their New Communities ...

* Shenandoah, Georgia *

Soul City, North Carolina Soul City is a community in Warren County, North Carolina, United States. It was a planned community first proposed in 1969 by Floyd McKissick, a civil rights leader and director of the Congress of Racial Equality. Funded by the United States Dep ...

The Woodlands, Texas The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with por ...

Two Certificate of Eligibility developments

* Radisson, New York *

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85 ...

, New York

References

Urban Growth and New Community Development Act United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Planned cities {{US-fed-statute-stub