Evening star., 1937-11-20

only month or two a year or to fur
! nlsh expensive recreatIonal facilities
on a project adjacent or convenient to
existing open public space Is sheer
waste. The exercise of strict and in
! telIIgent economy, Housing Authority
ohlclalS insist, can keep building costs
down 10 a reasonable figure.
They point TO Hillside" in New
York City as an example. That low
rent project. built and operated bv
| private enterprise as a limited divi-
oend project with P. w A. aid, ac-
tuaIy cost less than the approved
| designs anticipated. And the man
! who headed that Job is Nathan Straus.
administrator Of the new Housing All
thorlty.
Another example IS the Bridgeport
Comm project. which probably will
oe the first begun under the new Au-
I thorlty; its completed plans call for
| only an $500 room cost.
While the United States Housing
Authority commences with several ad-
| Vantages not enjoyed bv former SINH
lar governmental agencies. il still has
a fight on Its hands. The slum si.u-
alton. despite publicized efforts Of the
/ last few years. is as yet practically
untouched. There is hardly a city Of
any size IN the country but Is sf-
flcted with slUm districts, bllghted
areas and a housing crisis. The mag
nitude of the task Is appalling One
hardly hopes that the Authority can
cope with il.
CERTAINLY the S5O0ooOOOO ap-
propriated BY Congress to help
relieve the sltud ION Is a mere drop
in the bucket compared to the sstro-
nomlcal sums leeded to rehouse the
Nations poor. The money at the dis
pOSal of the Authority for the next
three years will barely suffice 10 make
start in the drive against inadequate
shelter. That fact is generally UNDER
stood. Responsible officials IN the Au-
thOrlty profess no starry-eyed ambi-
ton to create a Utopia In housing:
they do believe, though, that they can
eradicate the most malignant slum
conditions throughout the Nation. that
they can relieve the most urgent cases.
They understand their obligations
under the Wagner-Steagall Act as the
regeneration of conditions among the
loWeSt-inCome groups first of all a
field which private capital simply cam
not afford TO enter. Improvement Of
conditions in the economically higher
groups will be left to private enter
prise either independently or with the
aid of Federal mortgage and insur-
ance agencies such as F. H. A.
The Housing Authority will be in
hibited from helping many obviously
worthwhile and needy cases for DO
litiCal reasons. The act requires that
cities receiving help must have mu-
nicipal housing authorities. In prac-
tiCally every case the city lacks the
authority under its constitution tn es-
tablish such a public agency: State
legislation must be enacted granting
that right. To date 80 States have
passed enabling legislation. leaving 18
without local housing authorities au-
thorzed to participate in the benefits
of the Wagner-Steagall Act.
Another obstacle facing the Author
ity is the debt situation of many cities.
The usual municipal charter limits
borrowing to a percentage of it's real
assets. AS result of the depression
most cities have had to bond them
selves to the limit to meet ordinary
service costs and extraordi-
nary relief expenses. In addition. tbs
slump in real estate values reduced
the cities assets and. hence. the total
Of its bonds legally permissible.