Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-11
FINDS TIME RIPE
FOR HOME BUILDING
Plans for Hoover Conference
Hold Much of Promise;
Says Dr.. Klein.
tcontinued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
upon it, but also the layout of the
whole subdivision, proper handling of
heavy traffic by means of we'll planned
city thoroughfare system, satisfactory
surroundings for the neighborhood,
through good city planning and coming,
and adequate standards of maintenance
observed by nearby property owners and
by the city in the rendering of its va
rious services.
I'm the case of economies of con-
etruction, there are involved not only
the, builders. but the designers. the
manufacturers of materials, the lend
ing institutions and home downing
public that is enabled to appreciate the
good points of house.
Failure to provide adequately for
the financing of home owners is rec
ognized by the administration as being,
In many respects, one of our greatest
shortcomings. instability in the total
supply of credit for home building Is
one of the most unsettling forces in our
economic life, since periodic shortages
contribute to business depression and
unemployment, besides working hard
ships on families who want to buy or
build, or seven to renew old mortgages.
THE situation is made worse by in
adequate organization, which results in
failure to differentiate between sound
and unsound loans and contributes to
the violence of alternate initiation and
deflation in property values, and conse-
uuently in the rate of new building
I'm this whole problem of home own
nership the question of Zoning is one
that indisputably looms large. A home
buyer often faces the possibility that
the vacant lot next to his home may
Z k,ixo it,Y1ly or
pletely covered with a garage or tall
apartment house or neighborhood store
which may utterly spoil the home as a
place in which to live and force the
family to sell out, with loss that rep
resents the slowly garnered fruits of
frugality and Self-denial. The COM
munity doesn't want residential districts
to be blighted or serviceable buildings
and costly public utilities to be need
lessly strapped as a consequence of
such incongruouS intrusions Zonlng Is
the answer-and coming is spreading
apace. -
I'VE must not fail to stress the bright
side of the picture. Though there Is
much in the home -owning field that we
cannot afford to tolerate, we have,
nevertheless made splendid progress In
the past 10 years. We have overcome
the shortage arising from the war and
molished or vacated large numbers OF
our worst and most ramshackle struc-
lures; we have equipped millions OF
dwellings with modern convenfences; we
have seen great advances in architec-
ural design; new materials and meth
DDS of construction have been evolved.
Has Bearing on Business.
"All this, together with the new
movement now inaugurated, has di-
rect bearing on business. The mate
rails going into even house OF a most
modest type are supplied by vast va
riety of localities and industries. and
the resultant commercial benefits are
correSpondingly split up. With recent
drops in prices of important building
materials. with an ample number Of
highly skilled building trades workers
available, with contractors anxious to
obtain work and with first-mortgage
money now generally available at rea-
sonable terms conditions are now favor
able for full speed ahead on the part
of home builders who command the es-
sential resources.
.'In general. we find that conditions
are also good for going ahead with re-
pairs, alterations and Improvements to
existing houses. Estimates presented to
the recent meeting of the Planning
Committee in the Commerce Depart
nent indicated that at least $50 ,000-
600 900 will be spent on new residential
construction In this country during the
next 20 years and that, in addition,
upward of $500 ,O00, 900 a year is being
spent currently on household repairs
and maintenance. These are vastly i'm
portant business items; and the new
presidential conference will serve to en-
phasize. as we'll the enormous human
importance of the moneys being rightly
spent.
1.-THE worth of the home to the in
dividual and to society. lies chiefly in
its spiritual values. its capacity TO in
culcate an appreciation Of fine things
its function as a molder of character
and a builder of sturdy citizenship. its
stimulation of the priceless qualities OF
companionship, loyalty and a mutual
yielding for the common good.
But those fine flowers of the Ameri-
can home, as we see 1t at its best. rest
inevitably on material basis-on the
actual physical character of the home
itself and the nature of its financing
Surely will all agree that more ad-
n1irsble human qualities spring from 9
home that is attractive, IN good TASTE
and honestly. soundly built than from
one that is shoddy. and tawdry.
eff the home has true beauty and