Evening star., 1946-02-24
Architects Criticize
Wyatt Housing Plan
As Serious Mistake

~ SVIlVuS IuJlVNV
The American Institute of Archi-
tects, in letter to Housing Admin
istrator Wilson w. Wyatt made
public yesterday, said that 'it will
be serious mistake to devote an
excessive share of construction IA
cilities to the production of housing.
This will inevitably result in a
lack of places of employment,
schools, hospitals and community
facilities, which will seriously inter
fere with job opportunities and the
welfare of the veteran and his
family.
I'VE believe that job and busi-
ness opportunities should not be
jeopardized as result of solving
the problem which appears most
critical at the moment" the letter
stated.
Admit Veterans Need.
The architects admitted that the
need for veterans homes cannot be
denied and that the ALA Is Sin
cerely sympathetic to your objec-
tives."
However, it was pointed out, 'Mr.
Wyatts proposed housing program
should strive for full production of
building materials" rather than
channelization Of the exceedingly
meager quantities of many basic
building materials being produced
today.
Production of building materials
is the "crux' of the problem, the
ALA said. Unless we obtain ca
pacity production Of building ma
terials, we shall find that regula-
tions governing the channeling of
materials will be irritating but in
effective"
Cause for Increase Cited.
Turning to the rise which has
taken place in building costs the
letter listed increased cost causes as:
!. Uncertainty as to Government
policy on material costs and sup
plies which causes subcontractors
and contractors to protect them
selves by making allowances for un-
foreseen contingencies"
2. Adequate production of materi-
ais. OPA, by excessively low" price
ceilings on number of building
materials, has vastly increased
the cost of finished buildings to the
consumer, the letter charged. The
lack of two or three critical items
may tie up whole project and re-
suit in an increased cost of the
project many times more than the
increased cost that would have re-
suited from paying a fair price for
these materials.
3. Low productivity Of existing
labor brought on by restrictive
practices"
In a companion letter, sent to the
OPA, the Ala asked a continual
re-examination of the relationships
between supply and demand and
that price controls be gradually and
continuously removed as soon as
the gap between supply and demand
for individual commodities has been
sufficiently reduced"
Turning to plans TO use pre-
fabricated dwellings to help meet
the present housing shortage, the
ALAS letter to Mr.. Wyatt said the
institute is definitely opposed to
subsidies for prefabricated houses
and particularly opposed to guaran-
teeing market for this industry. >
Instead, prefabricated subassemblies
should be used. the architect urged
The most economical and efficient
way to meet the housing shortage
would be to put Mr.. Wyatt's pro-
gram on dwelling unit" rather
than house" basis and build
apartment houses, they said.
Low Prices Criticized.
AS for prices, the architects said
1t would be a serious mistake" to
impose excessively low ceiling prices
on new housing on the assumption
veterans cannot afford higher prices
Low-priced housing cannot "be
built by decree" the letter said, and
the effort to do SO will simply
strangle the whole program"
At best, it continued. such housing
will be a "detriment" to the COM
munities in which it Is built.
Instead of uniform low-ceiling
price on houses, it said. higher cell
ings should be coupled with priority
incentives.
Under this plan, the architects
recommended ceiling of $4,000
with the proviso that $4,000 houses
would get an "A" priority, $6 900 to
$4,000 houses "B" priority and Sc
on.
The same thing could be worked
out for rented dwelling space, they
told Mr.. Wyatt. Ceiling price should
be $25 room with "A" priority given
to $l5-per-room dwelling space.
This program should be supple
mented with public housing spon-
sored by the Federal Public Housing
Authority, the letter said.
The Ala ended its letter by offer
ing the experience and abilities OF
its members to assist you in this
critical emergency"