The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1946-01-03
CHARLESTON AFL FIGHTS
REAL ESTATE CHISELERS
By ELIZABETH GREEN
Federated Press

Charleston, S. C.-(FP).-In face
of severe housing shortage here
AFL officials are fighting gang g-up
on homeless veterans and civilians by
real estate interests palming off
shoddy homes at exorbitant prices.
According to state Federal Housing
Authority officials, 10000 new homes
are needed in South Carolina in the
next few months, 5000 of them in
Charleston. To relieve the crisis the
Charleston Central Labor Union and
Building Trades Council are protesting
an order for the demolition of several
projects of temporary war housing.
These houses are not suitable for
permanent occupancy" CLU Pres.
John j. Irwin said, "but they are far
better than much of the housing where
workers live. Furthermore, many
workers who were able to afford $50
rentals in privately financed housing
backed by FILA during the war when
they had overtime pay are no longer
able to afford such rentals and should
be allowed to move into publicly Ii
nanced housing. Under present regu-
lations they are not allowed to do So"
The charge that private construc-
tion companies united in the V Hous-
ing Authority, which built all the
FHA-backed housing here during the
war, were taking advantage of the
present crisis to unload poorly con-
structed homes on returning vets and
desperate civilians was made by Paul
Fine, president of the building trades
council.
He cited in particular the Byrnes
Downs Houses, erected just outside
the city by the V Housing Authority.
These are brick veneer houses of five
and six rooms, selling at $4,000 to
$7,15O on 20-year payment plan. If
properly constructed, these houses
would be out of the reach of most
Charleston workers, but Fine said the
houses "arent worth $1,000 at the
most"
"The houses at Byrnes Downs will
hold up for about five or six years."
he asserted. "You'll find the tempor-
ary war houses will last longer than
they will. In my opinion the V Hous-
ing Authority obtained money
through the government for the
houses they built far in excess Of their
cost or value even if they had used
skilled workers to do their construc-
tion work. II is also my opinion that !
they used the very cheapest labor
available and the cheapest construc-
tion materials"
Calling for thorough probe of the
whole V Housing Authority setup,
Fine suggested that the government
buy one of the Byrnes Downs houses
and take it apart to see how it's
built" The government has the auth
ority to make an investigation, he
said, since it is guaranteeing loans on
these houses.
An agent of the V Housing Author
ity quoted prices on the Bynes Downs
homes at $4,000 to $4,000 for. the s.
room dwellings and $4,000 to $7,l50
for the Groom dwellings. A down
of about $500 is asked and
payments Of $48 to $55 are
to be made for 10 years. After that
payments of $40 to $48 are to be made
for another 10 years. The houses are
built on brick foundations with l8-inch
clearance from the ground, which does
not appear to be well-graded enough
to insure drainage during rainy per-
iods.
Thousands of families in this city
are living in homes without proper
sanitary facilities, the Negroes suffer
ing particularly from shortage Of de-
cent housing. The need here is for
homes costing about $4,000 and rent
ing for SIG TO $40 month.
Observers here believe there is
definite connection between the drive
for the demolition Of the temporary
war housing and the campaign to sell
the Byrnes Downs houses, there being
no decent housing avail
able in the vicinity except that at
Ryrnoo noupc