Evening star., 1938-11-29
BY NELSON M. SHEPARD.

President Roosevelt today gave the
"go" signal for the start of SIS
100000 low-rent housing program in
approving an initial contract of ST..
$4,000 between the United States
Housing Authority and the Alley
Dwelling Authority.
A White House statement issued
at Warm Springs, Ga, announcing
the end of five months of direct
negotiations for the local housing
program, said that "other projects
will follow as work gets under way"
The terms of the contract, a 80
per cent loan to the A. D. A. with
annual rental subsidies to provide
an average monthly room rental OF
less than 81, the lowest in Washing
ton for public housing, were an
nounced in more detail at press
conference at the U. S. H. A. The
four projects provided under the
contract will accommodate 1,257
families with incomes below S1,lO0
a year.
Loan of S6,600,000.
The White House statement said:
washington, as we'll as the rest
of the country, should feel proud
as the war against the blight OF
slums moves forward at ever-in-
creasing speed"
Under the contract the U. S. H. A.
will lend $780, 900, or 80 per cent
of the total estimated cost Of four
building projects. The A. D. A., the
announcement said, will defray the
40 per cent balance of the capital
cost, most of which will be raised
through the public sale of bonds"
These projects" it was said, will
provide decent homes for app-oxi-
mately 1,257 families of the District
in the lowest income third. The
average shelter rentals will not ex-
ceed a per room per month.
First Large-ScaIe Effort.
"While the slums and the blighted
areas OF Washington have been q
subject for discussion and investiga-
ton for many years, this represents
the first large-scale effort to pro-
vide decent housing for the lowest
income groups and to tear down
the slums.
TN accordance with the U. S. H. A.
policy, occupancy in the new pro-
jects will be confined in general to
families with incomes of less than
$1,100 per year.
Thus the income groups served
and the rents charged will be by
far the lowest in the history Of slum
clearance and rehousing in Wash
ington.
This is but the beginning. Other
projects will follow as work gets
under way. Before many months,
we shall see hundreds of families
now forced by circumstances to dwell
in squalid, insanitary and unfit liv-
ing quarters migrating into new,
decent, healthful homes.
60 Communities Thus Far.
ITO date loan contracts totaling
$271 ,654 900 have been signed for so
communities to clear their slums
and erect about $4,000 new decent
family dwellings for more than $780,
900 persons. Altogether 142 cities
are already participating in the Ma
tion-wide slum clearance movement.
"The President expressed his ap-
probation both to Mr.. CNathan)
Straus of the United States Housing
Authority and to Mr.. John Ihlder
of the Alley Dwelling Authority"
Presidential approval of the con-
tract, however, does not mean that
construction on the sites is to start
Immediately. All the land has not
yet been acquired; architectural
plans must be developed.
Administrator Straus said today
he was confident men would be
employed on the sites before spring
at the latest.
The U. S. H. A. loan, which will
become Immediately available, is to
be amortized over a 60-year period.
The A. D. A., which originally
sought a 100 per cent loan in what
it regarded as the best interests of
the District, will contribute the 10
per cent balance, or about $736,000,