Evening star., 1939-04-21
U.S.. Authority Plans
Houses 10 Rent
Al $40 Weekly
Vincennes Structures to
Cost s., 500, Meeting
Fort Wayne Challenge

The United States Housing Author
ity today met the challenge of the
widely publicized $2.50-a week
homes for Fort Wayne, Ind, slum
dwellers by approving construction
bids in Vincennes, Ind, calling for
$3,500 houses to rent for as low as
$220 per week.
This rental expectation, it was an
nounced, is the lowest for new and
soundly built dwellings reached in
Northern cities.
There is nothing in common be-
tween the Fort Wayne plan and the
U. S. H. A. proposal except the rents
and that is regarded as what
counts the most.
The local housing authority in
Fort Wayne recently startled public
and private housing circles with its
scheme for 5000 prefabricated homes
built in "a hours on lots selling for
81. Two life insurance companies
and a bank supplied the money and
the Federal Housing Administration
insured the plan, amortized at 40
per cent over a 30-odd-year period.
Labor Fights Program.
Labor Immediately took up the
fight against the Fort Wayne homes.
They were built by w. P. A. workers
at no cost to the local housing au-
thority and the materials fabricated
also by w. P. A. labor. The homes
were erected on slum- district land
being held for future industrial de-
velopment. Most of this land was
property on which no taxes had been
paid for years or else was costing
owners taxes without any return.
The Fort Wayne authority con-
ceived the plan Of buying the land
for 81 lot. relieving the seller of
all taxes. He retained the right to
repurchase the land for the same
price in event an producing
use was found for it. The seller
must pay the cost of dismantling
and removing the house erected on
it to another site if the land is re-
quired within five years. Fifty
houses were built and the idea be-
came popular.
The United States Housing Au-
thority is restricted by law and
rigid regulations designed to carry
out the intent of its act.
Because it must employ labor at
the prevailing rate" that is, the
union scale, it cannot go into the
market for relief labor. Its housing
is planned also to last for 60 years
and therefore calls for durable ma
terial and sound construction.
Cost Unit $1,000 Room.
In cities the size of Vincennes
the United States Housing Act
limits the construction cost to 81, 900
per room. This cost is being low
cred considerably in all U. S. H. A.
contracts in the smaller cities of the
North, South, East and West.
The overall cost of the 80 Vim
cennes homes that will be con-
structed with U. S. H. A. aid is
estimated at $500, or $500 per
room. The overall cost includes
the price of the land and all nom
dwelling facilities. The net con-
struction cost, that is, the cost of
the dwelling alone, is estimated at
$2,S00, or $500 per room.
The U. S. H. A. loan of 80 per
cent of the construction cost will be
supplemented by an annual Federal
contribution not exceeding 312 per
cent of the cost of the development
to help reduce rents to the $220 per
week level. That is, roughly, $3.50
per month, compared with the $40
monthly rental for the Fort Wayne
homes.
The frame and other pre-fabri-
Gated material with which the Fort
Wayne homes were built would ban
their duplication in the District, ac-
cording to local housing authorities.
Fire laws, plumbing and other build
ing regulations would constitute an
effective barrier.