Evening star., 1936-03-11
SNAGS BESET i. S.
HOUSING PROJECTS
Various and Unco- -ordinated
Programs Raise Many
UnsoIved Problems.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

of a mess" This is no particular
reflection on any one official or agency
of the Government because the whole
thing is in the nature Of an expert
ment. But it does prove how difficult
1t is for the Federal Government to
assume tasks that have hitherto been
handled by cities and localities through
the instrumentality Of private capital.
Slum clearance and better housing
have been looked upon as one major
way to create work for the unem-
ployed. 1t is in the construction in
duStry and in the businesses related
to it known as the heavy goods"
group that unemployment has been
largest Hence the effort to get hous-
ing plans under Way has been COM
mended as a desirable objective by
almost everybody.
But the qeutSion that is Stumplng
oficialdom is how far the Federal
Government should help with public
funds and what effect such help will
have on existing property and its
value, to say nothing of the difficulty
of building homes at low enough
cost so as to make it possible for peo-
pie with low incomes to pay the rent
that has to be charged.
Wages Complicate Problem.
j. Nobody is suggesting officially that
one of the difficulties is in the field
of wages where the hourly rates are
necessarily high because workmeH
have been getting relatively little total
work to do. On yearly basis the
workmen have a scant income. On
an hourly basis, the rates of pay are
out of line with other industries.
= If there were some way to assure
a larger volume of work, then lower
rates per hour would be theoretically
the better plan. But is isn't in the
cards for political government to sug-
gest reduction in hourly rates. Con-
sequently, the planning turns toward
ways and means of building fabricated
houses in which the amount of labor
FUSED is relatively little or by SUBJ
,sidizing the construction of slum
clearance projects or low cost indi-
vidual homes in scattered parts Of a
given city.
= The Federal Government has been
interested from the outset in all these
plans, believing that some large scale
operation with billions available would
furnish many jobs and improve hous-
ing conditions for the masses Of the
people.
But unfortunately most all the plans
now have struck q snag. And the
President freely acknowledges it in
his conversations with the press. The
main trouble is that lots of Govern
ment agencies and plans have gotten
into operation without any particular
coordination. and with very little gen.
eral planning in advances as to where
most Of the projects would lead.
Types of Efforts.
Here is list of the different efforts
Of the Federal Government:
1. Slum clearance and low cost
housing under p. W. A Thirty-eight
projects are under way. but only one
has been completed after three years,
end in this the Government has dis
covered that the people driven out
of the slums aren't moving back into
the newly built homes, but are going
into other slum districts largely be-
the rents in the newly constructed
edifices. The Government found that
being landlord was no easy task.
Personnel had to be trained all the
way from rental agents to janitors
and garbage collectors. Taxes pre-
sented another difficulty, as some To-
calities insisted that the Government
should pay taxes or not share in city
advantages, but the red tape of the
law prevented tax payments to the
cities by the Federal Government.
2. Subsistence homesteads for the
country. These broke down and the
plan Is being hquidated 1t was dis
covered that the homesteads developed
into stranded communities. and the
Government had to keep the tenants
on relief rolls
Satellite Cities.
: 8. Rural resettlement," under DR..
hTugwell, came as sequel to the sub
sistence homesteads. The plan was
to build satellite cities" and at
tract people from the slums into the
edges of the cities where they were to
have garden homes. 1t was the opposite
of the P. w. A. plan. But Dr. Tug
well is running into difficulties. He
has problems of land acquisition and
the same management problems as
other agencies have had in handling
slum-cleared projects. He has had
to use relief labor, which isn't very
efficient. The President gave DR..
Tugwell about s3OO,000,0c0 for the
venture, of which about S30,000,00
was for the satellite cities" Four
have been planned. Most of the money
Is being spent for rural rehabilita-
ltion." which isn't really new homes,
but aid to poor farmers.
4. The Federal Housing Administra-
tion has been the best and most prac-
tical Of all. This has dealt with the
principle of insuring loans that are
made by banks and trust companies.
Basically. the accomplishment here
has been to bring about gradual re-
vision of the mortgage practices of
the country. Many new homes have
been built with the new loans that
have been insured by the Government,
and payments are arranged on a 20
year basis with a monthly installment
and interest payment.
U. S. Takes Over Homes.
5. The Federal Home Owners Loan
Corp. has done an excellent Job In
refinancing existing mortgages in
cities, just as the Federal Farm Credit
has handled mortgages on the farms.
Now, however, due to delinquent pay
ments, the Government has come into
possession Of about 1000 homes and
is foreclosing about 5000 more. The
rate Of delinquency is about 80 per
cent of the total, so the Federal Gov
ernment may become landlord on
wide scale through this source.
New plans are being drawn. MIR.
Roosevelt is expecting to leave Wash
1ngton by March 10 and he hopes to
be able to develop some new method
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