In 1934, the United States Emergency Relief Administration began a program called the Labor Rehabilitation Program which was continued until 1946, through the Resettlement Administration from 1935 to ’36, and through the Farm Security Administration, from 1937 to ’46. This program was meant to help low-income farmers and farm laborers with special assistance so that they could become self-supporting and remain on their farms.
The program included low-interest loans for purposes other than the purchase of land, debt adjustment, grants, assistance with management, and a push for farmer’s cooperative associations.
Only a fraction of those in need of assistance were actually reached by this program, especially since there was very little data on low-income farmer families.
Some families, in return for grants, agreed to build food-storage cellars for storing canned foods and other food provisions, as well as to fix their outhouse facilities, well, and make improvements to their homes. The photo above shows an outside view of some of these food storage facilities built by farmers under the program.
There were also small groups of labor homes built on government-owned land. These homes were provided to farm laborer families, much of which had been migrants.