The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-03-10
House Voting. On
Rent Control Bill
That's Too Weak


days before the present law ex-
pires, badly battered rent control
bill was reported out of the House
Banking Committee for fl 90 r
action, while on the Senate side the
Banking subcommittee headed by
Sen. Sparkman I'd, Ala.) started
week long hearings on rent control
measures.
Major damage done to the rent
control program in the House COM
mittee was when all criminal PEN
alties were removed from the bill.
"This is like an advance notice to
any landlord that he'll only get his
wrist slapped if he goes out and
wilfully violates the law" COM
mented one union spokesman.
The measure would be in effect
for only Is months, instead of the
two years asked by the Admins
tration.
However, the rent control admin
istrator would be given the right
to sue for treble damages in the
case of wilful overcharges. right
now given only to the actual ten
ant. And a proposal to control per-
manent trailer housing rents was
added to the measure in commit
tee.
An additional threat is the grow
ing movement to write into the bill
a guarantee of "fair return" to
every landlord on every rental pro-
perty he owns. While this was beat
en- back by close vote in the
House committee, it is expected to
be raised again on the floor, and
in the Senate committee.
The Senate subcommittee will
hear this week from AFL and CIO,,
as well as from other public inter
est groups who support a strong
bill. Landlords will also be out in
force, though most of their atten-
tion seems centered on behind-the-
scenes pressure rather than a pub
lie fight. They are relying on.
changes in technicalities--which
may look unimportant but actually
are essential parts of rent control
to save their profits.
The profits position of the land
lords got a good deal of attention
from Housing Expediter TigheI
Woods when he led off before the
Senate subcommittee. Woods said
that under rent controls no land
lord should lose money, since "our
adjustment provisions permit any
landlord to secure the net operating
income that he enjoyed during his
best two-year period since 1889.
Where landlords operating posi-
ton has declined generally in an
area as compared with the max
imum rent date, local advisory
boards may recommend general
rent increases to compensate for
this decline.
Woods proposals for the Admin
istration are for two year extern
sion, and for authority to the ad-
to bring treble damage
suits for wilful overcharges, apply
criminal sanctions for wilful viola
tions, and regulate evictions. He
wants permanent dwelling units in
hotels and housing units not rented
for a "a month period brought
back under control and control
kept on converted units except
IN specific cases where conver-
sion results in additional self
family units. He wants
power to recontrol areas and esta-
blish controls in new areas where
this is warranted by the national
defense program or other chang
ing conditions. The provision for
voluntary leases should be dropped.
Also before the committee is the
Myers Douglas bill, which is much
stronger and far-reaching. This is
expected to have the backing of
the unions which will appear this
week.