Evening star., 1952-05-06
Two U. 5. Officials See
Slash Unnecessary
In Public HOUSING

SIuSH OHNCICSSoIY
In Public Housing
Two Government officials today
told public housing advocates
there is no defense necessity which
juStifles the slash in public hous-
ing construction voted by the
House.
Leon Keyserling, chairman OF
the Presidents Council of Eco
nomic Advisers, told the National
Housing Conference, Inc, meeting
at the Hotel Statler, that to i'm
pose a 5.000-unit limit on new
loW-rent housing is folly"
At a time when workers are
migrating into crowded Industrial
and military centers, Mr.. Keyser-
ling said, "the proportion of low
rent housing should be higher
than in peacetime."
Housing Administrator Raymond
Foley. who was testifying in sup
port Of the administrations hous-
ing program before congressional
committee. sent word to the con-
ference Of local public housing
authorities that he was per
sonally confident" the Senate
would restore the House cut.
Sees No Shortage.
There evidently will be no such
shortage of building materials as
was feared last winter, he said.
1T is my hope that again the
truth will prevail and the Presi-
dents $4,000 figure will be
adopted" Mr.. Foley's message
said.
Mr.. Keyserling told the meeting
that the persons behind the bat
terlng-ram attack" on public
housing, acting under the guise
OF national Defense" are the same
interests which have opposed sub
sidized housing in the past.
ANY one who proposes such a
slash and at the same time mouths
support Of national defense is not
acting in the interest of national
defense" the White House adviser
said.
He and Senator Humphrey,
Democrat, of Minnesota chided
Mr.. Foley's Housing and Home
Finance Agency for what they
considered an insufhciently ag-
gressive promotion of the public
housing program.
Taft Takes Stand.
Three presidential candidates
Senator Taft. Republican. of Ohio:
Senator Kefauver. Democrat, of
Tennessee. and w. Averell Harri-
man. director for mutual secur-
ity. indorsed public housing in
messages to the conference.
Senator Taft declared: 1T is no
reflection on private industry to
say that 1t never has and prob
ably never will meet the serious
low-income problem in the hous-
ing field.
THE public housing projects
have not only improved the con-
dition Of the people who live In
them, but they have raised the
standard Of the entire neighbor-
hood. They have raised the gen.
eral character and the morale of
the people in those communities.
Cites Community's Duties.
I'VE have always recognized In
this country the duty of each COM
munity to see that unfortunate
families have at least a minimum
standard of living. We have al
ways furnished relief. We have un-
dertaken to provide free educa-
ton; our cities have always given
free medical service to those who
are unable to pay for it: and we
have generally tried to prevent the
lack of opportunity which comes
particularly to the children in
families whose misfortunes it's own
workers are unable to relieve"
Mr.. Hartman said attempts
virtually to eliminate low-rent
public housing for low-income
families now living in slums must
be vigorously opposed"
Instead we must keep moving
forward. as fast as the defense
program allows. with our public
housing program and slum clear
ance and redevelopment Of blight
ed areas in our big cities" he
said. I'VE must move ahead as
fast as we can with privately fin
anced housing as well. And as
time goes on we should be able
to resume full scale the great VOL
ume of home building that our
mobilization program interrupted" a"
Senator Kefauver declared his
support for the public housing
program, promising "a mighty
fight" in the Senate to restore
the House cut.
The group also had solicited
from Senator Lodge. Republican,
of Massachusetts, a statement of
Gen. Eisenhower's position on low
rent housing, but obtained only
Senator Lodges personal 'assur-
ance of support.
Senator Kefauver's message re-
called that he supported whole
heartedly' the 1949 Housing Act
which included the public housing,
slum clearance and city redevelop-
ment programs.
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