Evening star., 1949-03-13
By Harold B. Rogers


/ Congress is being asked to give
some protection to apartment
house tenants who must buy their
apartments on cooperative
basis or face eviction from homes
where they have lived for years.
A proposal to assist such tenants
is carried in the bill for extension
of District rent control slated for
early House floor action. The
present rent act here expires
March 81.
/ The legislation is the outgroWth
of many complaints reaching the
Capitol against the operations OF
promoters who have developed CO.
operative apartment projects here,
The report of a House District
subcommittee carries many OF
these complaints registered at a
recent public hearing. Promoters
of such projects, however, de-
Tended the cooperative project as
stimulus to home owning, and
as financially sound.
The restrictive legislation was
developed by a House subcom-
mite headed by Representative
Harris, Democrat, of Arkansas. 1t
was approved by the House Dis
trict Committee with only two
dissenting votes and will be re-
ported to the House in the rent
control extension bill.
New Control Added.
The provision is a new con-
troll added to the District Rent
Act. 1t would prevent the eviction
of tenants who do not want to
buy into cooperative apartments,
unless IS per cent of the tenants
join the project and are either
stockholders or members. This
restriction would become effective
the first of this month. and con-
tinue for the life of the Rent Act
extension, until June 30, 1850.
The bill provides that tenants
who in good faith had bought
into cooperative projects before
March Is, with the purpose of
living there, would be permitted
to evict tenants who refused to
buy apartments. The IS per cent
requirement thus would not apply
to deals closed before the first of
this month.
The Harris subcommittee during
it's diScussionss in executive session
on the proposed restrictions had
considered placing the deadline
at March 81 this year instead of
March l. But it was decided that
if the later date were placed in
the bill there would be a rush
by the co-operatives to force
tenants to buy or be evicted. To
prevent this pressure on tenants,
the subcommittee recommended
the first of this month.
Movement Increases.
Testimony before the Harris
subcommittee showed that the
movement toward cooperative
ownership had rapidly increased
within the past year. and had
aroused growing opposition and
resentment from many tenants.
Many tenants protested to the
subcommittee that the proposal
to force the purchase of apart
ments or be evicted was a threat"
to their security and to their life
savings.
Rent Administrator Robert F.
Cogswell charged the cooperative
as developed here was deliberate
move to "evade" the Rent Con-
troll Act.
Chairman Harris of the sub
committee contended that testi-
mony showed tenants were forced
to buy or be put out" and that
those who bought the apartments
where they were living were paying
from Is to 80 per cent more per
month than previously.
Proponents of the co-operativeS
insisted that apartments occu-
pied by nonowners were still sub
ject to the District Rent Act.
Furthermore they contended that
at the end of 10 years the apart
ment dwellers, who bought would
own their quarters instead of hav-
ing only "pile of rent receipts. ;"
Retired Officer Protests.
One of the outSpoken witnesses
against the cooperative was Com
modore l.. R. Rutter, retired.
Speaking for tenants in the West
moreland Apartment, mostly re-
tired service people, he charged
families there were faced with the
threat" of cooperative owner
ship.
These people, he said. asked the
committee in its mercy" to enact