Evening star., 1933-12-10
SLUM CLEARANCE
LOANS TOCONT|NUE
Public Works Administration
Encourages Promotion of
LoW-Cost Housing.

Z The Housing Division of the Public
& Works Administration yesterday issued
statement declaring that it con
tinueS to be the policy of the Public
Works Administration to encourage
: local study and promotion of low-cost
housing"
3 The statement was an answer to
many questions as to how the incorpora-
5 ton of the Public Works Emergency
Housing Corporation will affect applica-
tons submitted by limited dividend
! corporations, municipalities and public
housing authorities.
Text of Statement.
: 1t is stated:
THE corporation will continue to
loan on slum clearance operations and
low-cost housing projects sponsored by
limited dividend corporations Such
corporations have a distinct advantage
in certain fields of activity. 1t is the
! intention of the Public Works Admins
: tration to take the initiative in slum
clearance and low-cost housing projects
In the interest of unemployment relief
and recovery, only in cases where local
agencies are unable to do so or unwill-
ing to act promptly. Such projects will
be undertaken by the Public Works
) Emergency Housing Corporation upon
invitation from local officials and or
groups of representatives and RESPONSE
Die citizens Or civic organizations. When
the Housing Corporation initiates. local
groups and agencies will be utilized to
the fullest extent possible in the ac-
al cit r1cfr tiOrN
and operation of the projects. In any
case, the cooperation of responsible
local groups and agencies in essential.
: Created to Speed Work.
"The Emergency Housing Corporation
was created to speed the work. Expe-
rience, based upon hundreds of applica-
tions, clearly indicates that under pres
ent conditions local agencies, privately
financed, are rarely prepared to provide
the equity required Or to engage in the
kind of work that would best further
the interests of recovery. Only a small
number of applicants have proposed
plans or SUM clearance and very few
! have presented plans for housing prof.
ects which would be self-sustaining at
rentals sufficiently low. The large ma
jority propose the use of vacant land
in suburban areas and houses of other
than comparatively low rental. EX-
cept in a few communities such hous-
ing is not needed at this time and
might be in direct competition with
properties that now provide decent
housing facilities
THE administrator is particularly in
terested in projects presented by mu-
inequalities and public housing authori-
ties. To warrant approval in either
case, such applications must fully sat-
1sfy the requirements of the admin
istration in respect to certain impor-
tant matters of policy.
Vacant Land Not Excluded.
Except in unusual cases the aim of
the Public Works Administration in all
these municipal housing projects would
be to conflne the work of unemploy-
ment relief to slum clearance. Such a
preference does not exclude the use
of vacant land where it may be found
advantageous to combine the use of
the land with clearance operation.
Sometimes it may not be advisable to
build upon all or part Of the land va
Gated. or to crowd it with as many
families, or again such a combination
of slum and vacant land might help to
reduce the average land cost. In any
case, preference will be given to projects
located in congested areas occupied by
obsolete structures in an advanced state
of decay or delapidation. Preference
likewise will be given to sites closely
related to opportunities for employment
and to sites we'll studied in relation to
a long-term regional plan
Municipal housing projects and
those presented by housing authorities
must show rent level so far belov any
commercially produced as not only to
put them outside any possible compe-
tition with existent decent housing, but
unquestionably meeting the needs of
an income group never before accom-
modated. They must be controlled by
a socially minded agency, which will
limit its use beyond question to those
for whom it is built.