Makeshift housing still dominated Marshall Heights in 1945, and federal and city officials characterized it as a "shantytown". That year, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act of 1945. This act established the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) and a $20 million trust fund. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), an existing independent federal agency, was charged with developing plans to redevelop slum areas of the District of Columbia. The RLA was charged with implementing these plans, buying land and leasing or selling it to developers—replenishing the trust fund and allowing RLA to move on to new projects. Marshall Heights was picked as the NCPC's first redevelopment project. Unfortunately, no actual monies were appropriated for the RLA trust fund, and no redevelopment occurred. But because the RLA and the city were pledged to implement the NCPC's plans, they refused to permit private developers to make improvements as well. Moreover, when residents of Marshall Heights asked the city to install water and sewer lines in the neighborhood, the city refused, arguing that this would be a waste of money since all the infrastructure improvement would be removed once the NCPC's redevelopment plan went into effect. The federal government did, however, build a large number of red brick duplexes for sale to African American veterans on 54th Street SE between C Street and Central Avenue.