The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1939-07-08
Mnt. Mnnrnp Urnttpr
Editor and Publisher
1901 1884
AT LAST, REAL SLUM
RADIANCE?

The Federal Stun clearance
authority has been roundly berated
on the score of setting rentals too
high for occupancy by the low
income families it proposed to
rehouse. That objection has now
been met by the opening on July 4
OF five USHA-aided low-rent hous-
ing projects in which rents are less
than the average rents in slum
areas. Two are in Buffalo; one
each in Brooklyn, New York;
Austin, Texas; and Jacksonville,
Florida. The five are announced
by the USHA as the first of 232
projects to be erected in 100 com
munities throughout the country
with an average shelter rent of
$3.50 monthly for family dwell
ing, Austin has set a record," USHA
Administrator Nathan Straus said,
Higher costs for materials, labor
and maintenance in the other three
cities compel rents higher than this
unbelievably low figure" he de-
clared. "Yet in all of them the rents
for the well-built new homes are
actually lower than the average
rents now paid for slum dwellings.
The average monthly shelter
rents per family for the Jacksonville
project are $1O58; for the two pro-
jects in Buffalo the average is
$13.25; for the Brooklyn project.
it is about $780," One must con-
cede that the rents are the lowest
for decent homes ever reached in
the United States. Of course they
mean that local housing authorities
are enabled to rehouse low-income
families, now confined to the slums.
An official description of the five
projects follows:
Having been built to meet local
needs, each of these first five pro-
jects is different from the others.
The Jacksonville project is made
up of one and two-story houses,
some of them built in rows, some of
them semi-detached. In Austin all
the units are grouped together in
short, one-story rows. In the
Buffalo projects there are both
three-story apartments, two-story
flats and two-story row houses. The
Brooklyn project is composed en-
tirely of six-story elevator apart
ments.
"In certain basic features, how
ever, the projects are similar. All
of them are substantially fireprooi
and built to last for at least &C
years. All the dwellings provide
electricity, running water, private
inside water closets and baths and
kitchen equipment. All the rooms
are well-ventilated and of comfort
able size. A small charge is made
for utilities (such as electricity
gas, water and heat). Since these
utilities are generally purchased OF
provided for on a wholesale basis
the cost to the tenants is usually
much less than what they paid fol
them before moving into the pro.
jects."
Filtering through the raucous
criticism of the USHA rehousing
program there have been at least &
few cheering notes. Reports, unofi.
cial, on some of the earlier projects
tell of Improvements of surrounding
properties and the moving in Of
new business enterprises. There
could be real value in the reports
of neighborhood Improvements. W.
know, for instance, that even the
rehabilitation of Madison Park il
Roxbury was followed by some
renovation in adjacent houses. But
with the Inauguration of low-rent
housing projects designed especially
for the lowest-income families, we
are beginning to get acceptable data
as to the effectiveness Of the Fed
eral assault on the slums. Lay sup
porters of Federal slum clearance
would be rash to turn on the critics
with taunts about hasty conclu
sions. The critics might rejoin by
laying claim to revision of the
rehousing program and a drop ir
rents. Both sides could then shake
hands as comrades in error-the
common error of talking out loud
unfortified by the facts.
-G