Johnson signs Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, creating HUD as first new Cabinet department since 1953

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act on September 9, 1965, establishing HUD as a Cabinet-level agency. The House had passed the bill 217 to 184 on June 16 and the Senate 57 to 33 on August 11. HUD became the federal government's first centralized authority over housing and urban policy, consolidating programs previously scattered across multiple agencies. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff introduced the legislation on March 28, 1965.