Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-04-03
Public HOUSING
Backers Hope
For SenateAid
House Passes Bill
Containing Most Of
Presidents Proposals
BY the ASsoeiofed Press

BY the Associated Press
Rebuffed in the House, the
Eisenhower administration looked
to the Senate today to rescue
Its low-rent public housing pro-
gram.
An alliance of Southern Demo-
Gratis and many Republicans
fought shoulder to shoulder yes
terday in repelling persistent eff
forts of Northern Democrats and
Republican leaders to write at
least part of the Presidents pub
lie housing proposals into a gen.
eral housing bill.
After two-day battle, the leg
islation was passed. 1926. with
out any public housing feature
and stripped of an Eisenhower
request for the right to raise
interest rates on CT home loans
from the present AZ per cent
maximum.
In other housing fields. includ-
ing slum clearance, the bill went
to the Senate pretty much as the
administration wanted it.
Recent history gives the adj
ministration grounds for hope
that the Senate will come to its
aid.
Action in 1853 Recalled.
Last year, for example, the
House approved no funds for
building public housing during
the fiscal year. The Senate bill,
passed later, provided for $4,000
units. Conferees of the two
houses got together and fash
Toned 20.000-unit compromise.
In one area the House gave
the President even more than he
asked for. Its bill would let the
President drop down payments
on home loans insured by the
Federal Housing Administration
below the levels he suggested.
Before the bill was passed the
public housing dispute was re-
solved by the House when it de-
feated on 211-176 roll-call vote
a Democratic motion to give Gen.
Eisenhower just what he had
requested-authority to build
100000 new units spread in in
crementS of 5000 over the next
four years. In this last-gasp
move 1877 Democrats were rein
forced by 48 Republicans and
Independent. They were
beaten by $50 Republicans and
81 Democrats.
Earlier, House Republican
leaders had sought without sue
cess to put through a compro-
mise amendment designed to per-
NIT the administration to erect
10000 units over the next two
years. They assured the House
this would be acceptable to the
President and they buttressed
this with promise to take a
later look at the second half of
the original 140,0O0-unit plan.
Opinion Differs.
Though defeated in this, adj
minlstration leaders claimed that
legislation already on the law
books gives Gen, Eisenhower the
right to start $4,000 low-rent
units, already under contract. in
the year that opens July /. There
is, however. some contrary opin-
ion on this point.
SouthernerS, manning the
front line against public housing
forces, denounced the program
as "SocialiStic. They asserted it
made the people wards of q
bureaucratic state"
Public housing is rented below
cost to low-income families. A
Government subsidy makes I'D
the resulting loss.
During preliminary SkirmiSh-
Ing in the house, Democrats
tried to cancel out a proposed
reorganization of the Federal
National Mortgage Association.
This agency buys mortgages
from lenders and others to sup
port the mortgage market. The
a d m n istration reorganization
proposal, incorporated in the
bill. would gradually shift the
agency from Government to pri-
vate ownership. Democrats con-
tended the agency's usefulness
would be destroyed in the pro-
cess. They lost, 149-139.
AS passed, the bill would per-
NIT these reductions of minimum
down payments on homes as
valued by FILA: On q $4,000
home. from the present $4,000
to $1,000; on a $4,000 house,
from $4,000 to $1,750; and on a
$4,000 home, from $4,000 to
$4,000.
This down payment reduction
authority is permiSsive, not man
datory. It is up to the President
to determine how far to go with
in the legal limits.
Also in the home-buying field,
the bill would allow the President
to extend the repayment period
for all FILA mortgages-on both
new and old homes-to 80 years.
(See HOUSING. Page A-2.)