National Resettlement Administration

Shorpy.com has hundreds of photographs of Americans at work, at home and at play. Many pictures were done by photographers employed by New Deal agencies. One agency, the Resettlement Administration, was, as its name implies, in charge of deciding certain citizens would not remain on their small farms, but be taken to new areas and moved into houses built by the government. Originally, the Resettlement Administration planned on communal farming, but Congress and reality put a stop to that. The RA took people from farms for two years 1935 and 1936. RA took the land, too. Some state parks in Arkansas contain land seized by the Federal government in order to “make life better” for some citizens.

Here is a list of New Deal communities:

http://newdeallegacy.org/table_communities.html

From the Gee, Ain’t Government Nice file:

“In 1934, during perhaps the most disparaging time in American history, the town of Eleanor (initially called Red House Farms), became one of three Subsistence Homesteads built in West Virginia under the Roosevelt Administration. A total of 150 families selected for the Town of Eleanor were offered a challenge and a chance for new life. “

http://eleanorwv.com/history.html