Evening star., 1941-09-14
A. D. A. Lays Plans
For Sunless City
In 6O-Year Terms
Defense Housing Fits
In Longtime Program
For Finer Capital
BY JOHN IHLDER,
Executive Officer, the Alley Dwelling
Authority

fense housing doing to your pro-
gram?" The answer is, 1T Is part
of the program" A housing pro-
gram is longtime proposition and
takes account of changing needs
and conditions.
Getting rid of all the slums and
substandard dwellings of Washing
ton and assuring an adequate sup
! ply of good low-rental housing Is
something that cannot be done
overnight. The Authority's new
houses are designed, and financed,
to last from 35 years for defense
housing to so years for normal hous-
ing. Many of the old slum houses
it is demolishing have lasted longer
So the Authority thinks in terms
of so years.
During 60 years there will be
peace and war prosperity and de-
preston, housing shortage and hous-
ing surplus. All of these must be
taken into account in the program.
During go years prices will change.
wages will change. These must be
foreseen in the program. During
60 years the city may change as
much as it has changed in the past
so. So far as possible these changes
must be taken into account in the
program.
Three Factors Important.
So the Authority seeks to build
good dwellings of kinds that expe-
rience has shown have lasting quail
ties. Even more important than
the building itself is the open space
about the building, for land over
crowding is the most potent cause
of that neighborhood deterioration
which carries many well-built houses
into the discard. Next is traffic as
a cause of neighborhood deteriora-
ton.
The Authority co-operates with
the National Capital Park and
Planning Commission in selecting
the areas in which it works in
order that its developments may
fit into the city plan for the future
Washington. Because of the pres
ent shortage of dwellings it is now
putting emphasis on constructing
additional houses and minimizing
demolition. especially when a cleared
Slum area should be redeveloped
for uses other than residential. That
will come later when the housing
shortage has been overcome. Some
two years ago the Authority ten
tatively selected a slum area for
low-rent housing redevolpment, but
found that because Of the street
pattern the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission believes
the future of that area is CONNER
cial. So the Authority put it on
the shelf for later consideration
and directed its attention elsewhere.
Has City-Wide Field.
The map accompanying this ar
ticle shows the places where the
Authority is now working. Its prop
critics dot nearly all sections Of the
city. It's purpose Is to reclaim"
sluns or blighted areas and, If
those areas are not adapted to
low-rent housing, to building a COM
pensating number of low-rent dwell
ings elsewhere. Even where the re-
development is for low-rent hous-
ing, the density of population may
be reduced, so compensating dwell
ings must be built elsewhere.
Two things are happening to
Washington, as they are to other
large cities; it is growing on the
outskirts and decaying near the
center. In part, this is inevitable,
the plan of. nature by which parts
of every living organism decay while
other parts are growing. That is
why it is necessary to prune trees.
But in cities the natural process
has been accentuated by what man
does. The result is such great waste
that some of our cities face bank
ruptcy because of the spread Of
their blighted areas. The Author
ity is seeking to reduce this ten
dency by retaining spoiled areas
that have become municipal lia.
bilities, redeveloping them for uses
that best serve the community and
in ways that promise stability.
Meets Defense Needs.
Supplementing its corrective work
in slum reclamation, the Authority
builds on vacant land to provide for
families equal in number to those
who are displaced in congested
areas, and to meet the acute needs
due to the defense emergency. On
these sites it seeks to apply the
lessons of experience, avoiding land
overcrowding and the creation OF
heavy traffic streets, so its proper
ties may be protected from the
blight which has fallen on some
older sections of the city.
The Alley Dwelling Authority is
the pioneer public housing agency
in the United States. Its beginnings
were small-it had only s500,000
with which to start. It's operations
were confined to squares that con-
tanned inhabited alleys. Since those
days of small beginnings interest in
public housing has become NatiGn-
wide and as result much larger
funds have become available. The
present immediate program Of the
Authority will require nearly $20,-
100000.
The financial policy of the A. D. A.
is to carry out its program of slum
reclamation and assurance of an
adequate supply of good low-rent
dwellings at the smallest practicable
net cost. It's objective is to break
even, to finish its job, making Wash
ingtOn a slumleSS citV. with assets