The union times., 1948-03-06

EVIL EFFECTS
 ''Reply after reply" Wagner re. ports, "cited the evil effect of slums, over-crowding, and other bad housing conditions on the health and moral fabric of our To. cal communities" He quoted the replies from AFL President Will. liam Green and other leaders to bolster his case.
 Wagner heard from % govern. ors, mayors of 82 cities in which 42%o of the city-dwellers in the US. live, and l33 prominent indi. viduals ranging from the AFL spOkesmen to homebuilding, fin. ancing and real estate leaders Here is Wagner's own summary of their replies:
 Practically all of the mayors re. ported that their cities contained sub stantial number of low-income families living in slums or other substandarC housing conditions.
 Nine out of 10 governors, mayors and prominent individuals agreed tha within the foreseeable future private enterprise could not provide decent housing, new or old, for all these low income families at rents or costs they could afford.
 THE RECORD
 "On the other hand, o3%o of the mayors of cities with existing low rent public housing reported that these projects, to the extent that they had been provided, were adequately serv- ing low-income families. All said that they had been built and operated efici- ently, and that conditions of health delinquency, and crime had been i'm proved.
 More than fve-sixths of them thought that the cost of city services in the neighborhoods had been reduced and real-eState values increased. All agreed that the projects are not pre- sently competitive with private hous- ing of acceptable standards, and only one mayor indicated that the projects had ever presented any such competi- ton.
 Ninety percent of all replies indi- cated support for publicly assisted low rent housing for low-income families and specifically favored continuation of Federal assistance along lines of the United States Housing Act oi 1o37.
 ''With only a few exceptions the mayors responding reported the inability of their cities to under. take the financial burdens of pub. licly assisted Iow-rent housing pro. grams, either as to the capital funds required or as to the cash subsidies necessary to reduce rents to levels which low-income families can afford to pay. State loans and subsidy funds for these purposes were available for Iow-rent housing in only four states.
 More than 909o of the respondents felt that a redevelopment program was needed in the cities in order tc clear slums and blighted areas and tc make the land available for new de velopment. They thought that some form of public assistance would be re- quired to write off the difference be- tween the cost of acquiring the land and its value for its most appropriate reuse.
 ''Most of the respondents said that the states and cities would be unable to supply funds to cover the full losses involved in slum clear. ance. However, 699o of those who replied felt that the formula under the Taft-EIlender- Wagner bill, un. der which the Federal Government would supply two-thirds of the write-down costs, with the balance assumed by the locality, was ade. quate and equitable.
 "A majority of those who dis. agreed felt that the Federal finan. cial participation should be still higher. The lack of results achieved thus far under redeveIopmeni laws enacted in several states has been due to the fact that state funds are unavailable or insuffi. cient."