Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-05-09
FIJI. A. HOUSING
PROGRESS SHOWN
Models on Exhibition in New
York in Drive for Slum
Clearance.
1y the Associated Press.

The Roosevelt New Deal reported
progress today in its drive to build
. the American working man q de-
cent home at a price he can afford
to pay.
1t listed its accomplishments-wi
concrete illustrations-on the floor of
the North American Homes EXPOSE
ton, which opens in Madison Square
Garden next Wednesday and closes
May %.
The chief exhibits are:
!. A model house for a family of
four costing $4,000 to s4,5O0 in
GLIDING the price Of land. 1t can be
purchased on monthly payments no
larger than those such workmen now
pay for rent, Government officials
said
:, Low-cost apartment house prof.
ects, built for loW-income workers
who cannot afford to buy homes.
They are designed to rent at an
average OF S. a room.
The model house was the result
OF agitation by the Federal Housing
Administration. In booklet, pub
lished in May Of 1896, on "Princi-
pies OF Planning Small Houses" the
F. H A. offered plans for small, SIM
ply designed dwellings which it said
could be built at cost ranging from
$1,000 to $4,000
Industry raised a chorus Of dis
sent. To test how we'll these plans
on paper would work out in practice
the National Associations of Lum-
Der Manufacturers and Dealers built
four such homes at Bethesda, Nd
The plans ran true to form. and the
houses were so popular among Wis
ttors that a national campaign was
decided on.
Model Homes Erected.
The National Small Homes Bureau
was set up in New York City to CO.
ordinate all the building INDUSTRIES
humber, equipment, house furnishings,
etc.-for integrated effort. Model
homes were erected in different parts
OF the country to demonstrate their
practical value.
There are now some 1000 of these
homes finished or under construction
IN l 900 different communities Four
thousand more have been promised.
On June there will begin a drive to
build 100000 of them in year.
The market for these small homes
"A immense. Building experts estimate
1t at II per cent of the home buying
market, on the grounds that the per-
centage OF potential home buyers can
not afford to pay more than $4,000.
The F. H. A. co-operates in the
Small Homes Bureaus scheme by
guaranteeing mortgages on the homes
up to 80 per cent and spreading the
buyers payments over 20 years. Under
this arrangement, homes costing be-
tween $4,000 and 1000 can be bought
on monthly payments ranging from
$50 to $40. A monthly payment for a
$4,000 house would be S26.
The one hurdle remaining under
this set-up is the down payment, which
Is 20 per cent of the total For a So, 900
house, this would be $780, 1t cannot
be obtained by second mortgage, Tor
second mortgages are banned on
F. H. A. loans. Instead, the site for
the house is often used as collateral
for the down payment.
The attractivenes of these pack
aged" homes, as they are called, Is
demonstrated at the housing exposition
by full scale model. 1t has four
rooms and bath-living- dining room,
kitchen, two bed rooms-and can be
built in either one-story or two-story
style. The builders emphasize the de-
sign Is not intended to be standard. !"
Variations for individual taste and
community traits are encouraged. Only
the broad lines are definitely laid
down.
Price Still "Too High"
Despite the combined efforts Of Gov.
eminent and industry to cut costs to 4
minimum, the price Of the "packaged"
home Is still too high for much Of that
tll-housed populace which President
Roosevelt-with Federal income sur
veys to support him-estimates at one
third OF all the American people.
What the Federal Government Is
doing to meet the problem of this
lower group is pictured at the housing
show by = slum clearance exhibit.
Two ancient walk-up tenements
which formerly stood on New York's
lower East Side have been trans
planted wholesale to the show floor
The buildings were torn down as part
OF the City Housing Authority's anti
sMrn campaign. Bricks and other
materials were carefully tabled and
numbered for the reconstruction at
the exposition.
Everything remains as it was ON the
East Side: Areaways, stores, the cor
ner saloon-even the ash cans.
Visitors enter through the original
tenement OF the "old law" class. Then
they cross flower garden into Sec
ton OF new, modern, loW-cost, Gov
eminent subsidized apartments of the
type being constructed by the Public
Works Administration in Harlem and
Williamsburg.
It was former Gov Alfred E. Smith
who started Stun clearance OF this
sort in New York and in the Nation
in 1926. Prices were rising rapidly at
that time, and Smith persuaded the
Legislature to help white collar"
workers by giving them cheaper homes.
Thirty million dollars was spent on
II developments to house about q, 600
people. The Rockefeller family and
Vincent Aston helped out by selling
parcels Of their land at a sacrifice.
Those projects, however, we're op-
Grated to rent at an average Of $3.50
per room, a price the P w. A. says
most sldn families cannot Afford So