Home. It's more than just an address. It's a place in the heart. A place to raise a family, rest from the rigors of work and enjoy the companionship of friends.

But not everyone in Austin can afford an adequate home. The high cost of housing can leave the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged without a decent place to live. For 70 years now, the Housing Authority of the City of Austin has housed low-income Austinites. It has taken people out of slums and substandard residences and placed them into decent, affordable and safe homes. And it has served those people in ways that lift them out of poverty and add dignity to their lives.

In providing this fundamental need, HACA led the way among housing authorities across the United States. Soon after the U.S. Congress passed the Housing Act of 1937, which provides federal assistance to local public housing authorities, HACA became the first housing authority in the nation to begin constructing a housing development. Under the 1937 act, residents began moving into that development, Santa Rita Courts, in 1939.

One of the principal authors of the Housing Act of 1937 was Lyndon Baines Johnson, then a young congressman from Austin. Johnson built a prodigious political career around his desire to alleviate poverty. HACA was one of the first three housing authorities to receive federal funds from the Housing Act. Johnson had the grants announced in alphabetical order so recognition of Austin would precede the other two cities, New Orleans and New York.

HACA's first meeting took place in 1937, making 1997 the authority's 60th anniversary. The first residents moved into Santa Rita Courts in 1939. Later that year residents moved into Rosewood Courts, and in 1940 the last of the three original developments, Chalmers Court, was ready for occupancy.

Today, the Housing Authority of the City of Austin has grown to 19 developments with 1,928 units, 22 single-family homes and a Section 8 program that subsidizes housing for more than 5,000 low-income individuals and families. From the Great Depression to the Information Age, HACA has given families and others a chance to come home to a place more than just an address.