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Abstract The article shows that if the notion of the Welfare State seems at first sight absent nowadays in the United States, firstly, such has not always been the case, as the New Deal (1933-1941) represented a typical version of the Welfare State ; secondly, the Welfare State still dominates in housing.In recent years delegation by the Federal Government of its housing policy to the so-called Government-Sponsored Entities has largely ended in failure. The cause lies in the contradictory aims of their two masters : the government on the one side and the shareholders and managers, on the other. The government emphasizes support given to under-privileged segments of the population while the logic of profit encourages the GSEs to concentrate on the contrary their efforts on the most affluent homeowners.