Evening star., 1942-03-24
C.|. 0. Official
Urges Speed on
Housing Bill
Independent Action
On GoodwiIIie
Plan Suggested
By JAMES E. CHINN.


An appeal was made to the House
Public Buildings and Grounds Com
mittee today by Henry Rhine, presl-
dent of the Washington Industrial
Union Council &C. l. o., to expedite
action on the Senate-revlSed Lam
ham bill authorizing an appropria-
ton of s70,O00,0OO to construct
homes and related public works for
Government war workers in the
District and Metropolitan Area.
Every minute delay in building
homes is delaying the war effort" he
declared.
Mr.. Rhine, suggested that if the
so-called> Goodwillie plan for re-
habilitating nine blocks in South
west Washington is serving to pro-
long final action on the legislation
1t should be separated from the pro-
gram and considered independently
The bill allocated $5,OOO,0OO of the
$70,OOO,O0O to carry out the Good
willie plan.
Il see lot of merit in the Good
willie plan" Mr.. Rhine said, "but
If it is gdng to delay the housing
program, it should be separated
from the bill and considered later
1t is very important to- get the hous-
ing started"
Lanham Speeds Measure.
Chairman Lanham explained the
committee is making every effort
to speed final action on the legis-
lation.
He pointed out that the House
passed the bill February II, and the
Senate Education and Labor Com
mittee held extensive hearings on
it and made numerous alterations
which necessitated the present
series of hearings being held by his
committee.
AS passed by the House, the leg
islation authorized an appropriation
of $50,000.000 without earmarkine
the amounts to be used for housing
or community facilities. The Sen
ate added s20,000,000 and definitely
allocated s45, 900, 900 for housing and
$25 100000 for public works.
Hsbert Assails H. o. L. c.
Sharp criticism was directed at
the Home Owners Loan Corp by
Representative Hebert, Democrat,
of Louisiana for its interest in the
program for reconstructing the nine
block Southwest area. The plan
was developed by Arthur Good
willie of that agency.
The H. o. L. C. should be
liquidating instead of going into new
fields" he declared. This project
tGoodwillie) hasn't anything to do
with the liquidation of H. o. L. c."
A. K. Waterfall, planning engineer
OF the H. o. L. c. was explaining
certain details of the Goodwillie
program and plans for providing
temporary housing for families
moved out of the nine-block area
during the rehabilitation period
when Mr.. Hebert made his attack
on the agency.
Representative Manasco, Demo-
crat of Alabama, remarked he had
heard rumor that the plans de-
veloped by Mr.. Goodwillie cost a
pretty good sum of money"
Il don't know where that rumor
started" said Mr.. Waterfall.
Mr.. Hebert inquired if work on
the plan was done during Office
hours"
Mr.. Waterfall admitted he had
spent about rs per cent of his time
in the last three months working on
the studies, and that another
H. o. L. c. employe, whose name he
didn't mention, had devoted about
the same time to the project.
That means that the personnel
OF the H. o. L. c. could have been
cut down by two and their services
devoted to some defense agency"
Mr.. Hebert declared. IF that is
true in this agency, how many
hundreds are in other non-defense
agencies whose services could be
used for defense work."
You thought you could supple
ment the work of 16 other housing
agencies" Representative Herbert
declared.
That was not our purpose" Mr..
Waterfall replied
White Indorses Goodwillie Plan.
Representative White, Democrat
OF Idaho, Endorsed the Goodwillie
plan because he said it would re-
move "slum conditions in the
shadow of the Capitol"
IF your committee wants to do
something, renovate the slum sec
tion in Washington, Mr.. White de-
clared. "Clean 'em up."
Representative Wilson, Repub-
lican, of Indiana, told Mr.. White
he was barking up the wrong tree
because it was not the purpose of
the legislation to clean up slum
areas" but to provide emergency
housing for Government workers
The Southwest section demands
your attention if you're going to do
anything about housing in WASH
ington,' Representative White re-
torted.
Mrs. Helen Duey Hoffman of the
Washington Housing Association
submitted statement to the COM
mittee pointing out that insanitary
conditions in substandard homes
are not due entirely to outdoor
toilets.
Many other factors are involved" !"
the statement said, which a proper
housing code would eliminate and
remedy"
John Ihlder, executive officer of
the District Alley Dwelling Author
ity, also submitted a statement con-
tanning answers to questions asked
him by committee members during
his testimony last week.
These questions were designed to
show the scope of activities of the
A. D. A. and the cost per dwelling
unit of its low-cost housing projects.
'Tokes O. P. A. Post