Evening star., 1945-03-07
Labor Proposes
Many Changes
In SIum Bill
AFL OfficiuI Fuvors
McCorron Plan, Asks
End to Bickering
By DON S. WARREN.

lcdUlilB 1OI dIl GIlQ W UlCkSTulS
over what portions of the work of
redeveloping Washington's blighted
areas should be awarded to public
and private enterprise, spokesman
for the American Federation of La
Dor today urged a Senate subcom-
mittee to approve the McCarran
slum clearance bill after it has been
extensively revised.
Testifying before the Housing
Subcommittee of the Senate Dis
trict Committee, Boris Shishkin,
secretary of the AFL Housing Com
mittee, declared there was IAN enor-
nous job to be done" in providing
decent housing for all the Districts
population
With work enough to occupy all
groups, he declared, debate over
what portion should be reserved to
private or public enterprise was
beside the. point"
Public Agency "OnIy Way"
Stressing the need of providing
loW-cost or low-rent housing for the
great percentage of families who
are in the lower Income groups, Mr..
Shishkin contended that "the only
way we know how to do it" Is to
have such work done by a public
agency.
In what was scheduled to be the
final hearing before the subcom-
mittee on the competing bills Of
Senator McCarran, Democrat, of
Nevada, and Senator Capper, Re-
publican, of Kansas, numerous
changes in the bills also were pro-
posed by Robert Sherman, president
of the Washington Industrial Union
Council.
DR.. G. Herbert Marshall, chair
man of the Emergency Committee
on Housing of Metropolitan Wash
ington, which he said represents |
more than $4,000 members of 13
Colored organizations, declared pri-
vate builders should not be given
redevelopment projects in which
any form of subsidy was required
to furnish housing for low-income
families.
Some of Changes Urged. i
Mr. Shishkin, speaking for the
Washington Central Labor Union as
well as the AFI, said his groups
strongly opposed the McCarran plan
to limit low-rental housing to fam
lilies having incomes of less than
81 1,500 year. Instead, he proposed
that such housing be limited to
families whose incomes were no
more than five times the rentals to
be charged. For the large-size fam
lilies, he continued, this rule should
be incomes of no more than six
times the rental.
Another change in the McCarran
bill recommended by the AFL
spokesman was to strike out the
one year waiting period giving that
much first opportunity to private
builders to take redevelopment
project, and to give the public agen-
cy the discretion to proceed with a
whole project itself if no suitable
offers come from private builders
within three months after a site is
acquired.
Mr.. Shishkin made no objection to
abolition of the National Capital
Housing Authority, as proposed in
the McCarran bill. He suggested, |
however, that the new redevelop-
ment agency suggested in the Nc
Carran bill have a board of five
members, instead of three, and that |
one member be representative of
labor.
McCarran Answers Criticisms.
AS preliminary to today's hear
ing, Senator McCarran last night |
issued a statement in which he re-
piled to some of the criticisms of his
measure.
His bill is neither private hous-
ing" nor 'public housing" bill, he
stated, but rather is essentially a.
slum clearance bill which recognizes
that slum areas must be redeveloped
in part by loW-rent housing"
In so doing, he continued, it ap-
plies principles advanced by John
Ihlder, executive officer of the NCHA
who is opposing the McCarran plan
and supporting the Capper bill
that public housing is designed
only to supplement private housing,
and the more private housing
the better"
The Senator contended that if !
such philosophy is followed, as in
his bill, reasonable time must be
allowed for private enterprise to do
what it can toward building low
rent housing on land available at
prices based on use-value appraisals
Replying to criticisms of his plan
for giving private industry a whole
year to bid on low-rent work, then
having Government agency start
to develop one-third of a project
itself if there are no suitable bids,
while offering the remainder of a
project area at auction, Senator
McCarran insisted that one year was