Evening star., 1935-01-12
BUILDING REVIVAL
ON BIG SCALE SEEN
Architect Envisions End OF
Depression-Lauds
T. H. A. Program.
(continued From First Page)


the banks for 20 per cent OF the loans
for a period not exceeding five years
was something more than trial pal
loon. 1t was laboratory EXPERIMENT
In method and technic. 1t is Title II
that will Immediately profit by the
experience"
President Roosevelts message tc
Congress means that the new work
must be speeded up to a pace far
greater than normal, according tc
Gray.
UNLESS we are to 60 backward ir
our civilization. we must, as the Presi.
dent pointed out, insist on so helping
our destitute that they may have re-
munerative occupation and so main
tain their self-respect.
The most costly item in the
budget of any community is popu-
lation living in degraded surround
ings. The bill for crime and for dis
ease. for preventive measures, for
curative measures. and for the fall
ure of these two is colossal. Greater
than the cost in money is the cost
in humanity. in lives wasted, in eff
cheney and degradation.
Other Nations Act.
mo nation can last with a large
proportion of its population degraded
and diScontented. 1t is these con-
siderations which have led most OF
the older countries of Europe, Eng
land, Holland. Sweden, Germany
France, Austria and Italy to SubSidize
housing. These countries have far
less in per capita wealth than We,
yet they have done this thing
They have found it cheaper to
set up a fund for building houses to
be rented even somewhat below cost
than to set up a fund for constantly
recurring and even increasing doleS
The money going into wages, both at
the building and in the manufacture
and transportation of material, not
only supports families and stimulates
general business, but supplies decent
homes for a contented population. In
America, the truth of this situation
has been only very gradually sinking
in. In the Presidents message tc
Congress, read a recognition OF this
fact by the administration.
But mere houses will not suffice
It means new neighborhoods, with
adequate recreational facilities fol-
young and old That involves city
planning, and city planning involves
regional and State planning. 1t in
wolves the regeneration of large
blighted areas in the cities. 1t in
wolves the study of rural and sub
urban subsistence homesteads. 1t in
wolves the difficult problem Of hous-
ing shortage. for the shortage is po-
tential rather than actual.
Shift in DepressiOns.
"In times of reduced incomes, peo-
pie move down the scale into cheaper
houses, thus leaving higher priced
houses vacant, but as incomes increase
the movement reverses and more
vacancies occur in the lowest rentals
The degree of overcrowding in rooms
also diminishes with prosperity.
Thus, the demand for housing
f1uctuates with the fluctuating in
come scale, and consequently the
same, in reverse proportion, holds
true of the supply One condition
remains fixed. though their numbers
change: those of lowest income never
live in decency, except it be with a
subsidy. In each city the problem
has its own peculiar phases and no
city can afford to neglect it.
The projects must be permanent
they must be part of the improvement
of the general social and economic
structure, they must put larger num-
bers to work.
municipalities counties and States
with any ordinary degree of fore
sight still have many important plans
which they realize must sooner or
later be carried out. Many projects
which might otherwise have been in
the works before now have hung fire
because plans were not completed.
Many of them are still not yet in
the planning state.
Architects Needed.
Here the architect should be
brought into the picture not as a
salaried man but in his normal ca
pacity. The same is true, to some
extent. of the engineer, though his
neglect has not been quite so general.
The State and county projects re-
manning include a larger proportion
of institutional buildings. In the
cities the major portion of the work
still centers around housing.
up to the present all housing in
this country has had to pay its own
way-the rent, or its equivalent in the
budget of the home owner. has had
to carry the investment For a large
proportion of the population this has
worked well. For another large pro-
portion. the very poor, it has worked
badly. because the very poor cannot
pay a rent sufficient to support a
housing investment which is adequate
to the demands of common decency.
That is not only true in this country.
but in all countries. In all countries
which have faced this problem, large
public subsidies in one form or an
other have been found necessary"