The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-04-27
Governor BoWles
Urges Senators 10
Keep Lid On Rents

keep LID Vn kentS
Washington (LPA)-If federal
rent control is abandoned now,
rents in Connecticut will rise IS
to As or even so percent, Connect
cuts Gov. Chester Bowles told the
Senate Banking Committee April
"a. The Nutmeg State has $4,000
more families now than it did be-
fore the war, the wartime OPA
chief declared, but $4,000 families
are living doubled up" and anoth-
er $4,000 families are living in
"substandard dwellings-in other
words, in slums."
Bowles said Connecticut is one
of the few states with a public
housing program of its own, but
pointed out that it would take 10
years to catch up with the housing
shortage, even if the population re-
mained constant, if the federal
government did not take the lead in
licking it. Continued rent control
now must be one of the govern
ment's tools, he indicated.
First witness before the Banking
Committee was Federal Housing
Expediter Tighe Woods, who ex-
ploded the principal arguments
against rent control advanced by
landlords. Woods declared that
newspaper advertisements and un-
official surveys have been used to
suggest the housing shortage is
over, that plenty of rental vacan-
cies are now available. His own ex
perience, Woods said, indicated
that most of the few vacancies
which do exist fall into one or an
other of the following categories:
II Units rented or sold, but not
yet occupied, which are not avail
able to the house or apartment
seeker; y dilapidated housing
which is not habitable; 81 housing
under construction, but not ready
for occupancy; A. new housing
priced beyond reach of the average
family; 81 units being remodeled
or being converted to multiple
units; g. temporary or condemned
units slated for demolition; or 81
units where children are barred.
Testifying in favor of President
Truman's request for another year
of rent control, the housing exped
tier said vacancy rates across the
nation are only l to 2 percent COM
pared with normal rates of 5 to 6
percent. Moreover, in many COM
munities it is even less. He put
into the record last winters vac
ancy rates in 25 cities as calculat-
ed by the Bureau of Labor Stats
tics and the Bureau of the Census.
In these communities, which includ-
ed large cities such as New York
and Chicago and medium-sized
cities such as Mobile and Savannah,
the overall vacancy rate was
small, varying from 0.S to 3.9 per-
cent. However, the vacancy rate of
"habitable" rental housing was
even more minute, ranging from
mere OIL to 2.7 percent. In only
three of the % cities did rental
vacancies exceed l percent of the
total habitable rental property in
town, according to the table Woods
presented.
To show that the housing short
age is not exclusively a big city
Woods read newspaper
stories and letters to editors des-
cribing acute situations in num-
Der of communities of less than
10000 population. One man said he
was forced to drive 500 miles every
weekend to see his wife and child
rem because there was no housing
in Belvidere, ILL.,, population 5000.
In Miamisburg, Ohio, population
$500, a minister and his family
were reported i'll because of the
-lampness in the church basement, |
The only housing available to them.
In Reading, Pa, family able and
willing to pay for good housing
was reported living in a one-room
shack without water. Woods said
ne could cite hundreds of such in
stances.
Gov. Bowles said rent control is
| terrific emotional issue" among
ow income groups in Connecticut.
He refuted contentious that rent
control should be returned to the
states by pointing out that it would
AXE time to call state legislatures
Jack into session to enact necess-
Try measures, and adding that
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