Labor Urges National Housing Program
Green, William
Labor Urges National Housing Program Green Stresses Need for 13,000,000 Homes President of A.F. of L. Explains Federation's Plan to Provide Decent Dwellings for the People with Public Funds Under...
...We moat, above all...
...2) What proportion of this total supply of necessary new dwellings can we reasonably expect ordinary private enterprise to provide without governmental aid...
...It is the realisation of this unbalance that makes pressing the need far prompt and sound measures designed to reduce the great standing army of unemployed which in February comprised 12,5ft),000 men and women...
...We must remember, however, that there has been nn almost complete stoppage in residential construction during the past six yean P*n enormous number of famit w^°.l-haY'1'*' b*en "doubled up" eesuauuc reasons, WtH now seek separate quarters...
...Or, stated the other way around, what proportion of these dwellings shoukkhe within reach of families who cannot pay a rental high enough to afford a profit to private business...
...By William Green Preeidrnt of the American Federation of Labor, OUSI NESS recovery, ¦which *** our nation has been striving to achieve ever since the disastrous economic crisis of 1929, is now under way...
...Most of the unemployed would be taken off the streets...
...In this way, the outstanding experts in the bousing field estimate that in 1945 the total additional dwelling units needed to meet minimum physical standards and maintain family occupancy standards of 1930 weald be 13,196,090...
...As long as the NBA standards were in effect the loss was not serious...
...Metidnn...
...These questions are foremost in the mind of American labor...
...This figure makes no allowance for replacement needs—whether due to planned demolition, or...
...This is true because of the direct relation to the relatively high birth rate of 20 years ago, when those of marriageable age today and those who will soon reach this age were born...
...For whom'- must the houses be built...
...The "housing problem" of the next decade is not, therefore, the mere abstract and kindly concern of a handful of social workers and reformers...
...For, just as the population is getting older, so are our cities and dwellings...
...Law Cost Homes As a most effective and practicable means of providing a solution to this problem, organized labor has come forward with a comprehend ve program of low rent housing aad slum clearance...
...extend the housing market to include the average industrial worker...
...erill ever be done to "improve the living conditions of these taut"*** without outside assistance because the cost of private housing construction places new homes entirely outside their reach...
...A recent survey, covering 62 representative cities in the United States, shows that between 65 and 70 per cent of the urban families in these cities because of their low incomes were completely outside any potential market for housing that might be supplied by private enterprise...
...This is a condition net only of the welfare of low.income families, not only of employment hi the building industry, bat of the general wellbeing of the American people...
...This is why a national housing program should be actively advocated ay Labor, management, and consumer, alike...
...The fact that we have built only for the top in the past few decades is one of the primary reasons for the existence of the "housing problem...
...But during the next decade millions more will wear out...
...Unless means are provided to establish the needed balance, such recovery cannot be a lasting one...
...Of all oar great national industries, the building industry and, above all, the business of producing homes for people to live in, is the most sick...
...Thus we find that the total of additional dwelling units needed to maintain decent occupancy standards and meet an absolute minimum of decency in physical standards come- to about thirteen million homes...
...During the past year, 74 per cent af all workers attached to the bvildhar industry were without jabs...
...At the end of 1933, however, employment began to lose ground...
...In other words, the three years of recovery have brought business almost three-quarters of the way back to normal, but more than half of the depression unemployed are stall without jobs...
...An allowance of one per cent a year is a minimum rate for such depreciation and obsolescence—certainly an extremely conservative estimate, much lower than that estimated by many authorities...
...It is clear, then, that in this field, where government subsidized housing would net compete with private enterprise, a nationwide program of Federal grants and loans for low rant housing and slum clearance is moat vitally needed...
...Again, if we expect to begin to replace obsolete and sham dwellings, a very substantial share of the new homes must be within reach of the middle —and lower—income groups...
...On the first question, several recent estimates agree that we are face to face with an acute housing ihortageawWe know that the shortage will be rapidly deepened, not so much because of the increase of our population in the immediate future, but mainly because of the net expected increase in tiie number of families...
...This brings us to the second question I raised...
...Mbaig^Aagg ertteate oh* vaetono phases gf e* On a modest scale, the mm essential factors ef toe 'homjjT program are incorporate, 'mm Wagner Housing Bill mtrodamjl' the Senate of the United Ststorw Senator Robert F. Wagner of X* York...
...It is generally conceded that the marriage rate will be abnormally high in .the next few years...
...The entire strength ef sk ganized labor in America is sisajsi to the support of this JS measure...
...Labor is vigorously advocating such a program not only as a direct means of reducing unemployment, hat as a most effective way of stamping out overcrowded and shim housing and of alleviating the acute housing shortage which we are now experiencing...
...Becagnfadng that^aetatte celt* vigorously save sated tke'pNtoS af law east housing based simple plan snaking availasit aa...
...At a very conservative estimate, at least 10 per cent of all dwellings —or about 3tf million units— should be renlacedt immediately in the interest of public health and welfare...
...Housing Shortoge Seen The marriage rate in this country dropped off sharply during the early years of the depression, but by 1984 it was already in excess of the 1929 figure...
...Let us look at the facts...
...In 1936, business activity had traveled 62 per cent of the distance to the normal level and employment only 48 per cent...
...Me fends at lew interest rateaS the development of the areanS Labor also favors the aesjeaVsto, lion'of each a natioawtaa IjB j gram by aa mifasndm* seranS' United faster...
...How' many of these dwellings can we expect private enterprise to supply unassisted...
...On a purely quantitative basis, the most reliable estimate available indicates that six and threequarter million additional dwelling units will be aeeded in 1945, merely to meet the present shortage and take care of the increased number of families ton years-from-now...
...The national income would be measurably increased, and the housing would, unlike the results of public relief, constitute a permanent addition to the wealth of the nation...
...Therefore, even if six and three-quarter million new units were provided, it would still mean that every slum dwelling occupied at present would still have to be occupied in 1945...
...Hitherto the residential building business has been a speculative luxury trade...
...And, from 1929 to 1930, during the biggest boom this country ever witnessed, we only built around six or six and a half million new homes altogether...
...Aid to Recovery One thing is clear: the new dwellings cannot be just for the top income group...
...In 1935, however, after the end of the NRA, the rate of renispliijini nl was seriously slowed nn...
...They are taken by labor as the most essential test of the soundness .of the present recovery...
...It is clear from these facts that tide lecotaiy is not a balanced recovery...
...Current business indicators show that production dividends and profits have definitely swung into a steady upward trend...
...This wflhjdepend net only on the economic causes Tail also on the fact that a period is beginning during which an increasing proportion will be of marriageable age...
...At this rate, replacement of another 10 per cent of our housing supply, or an additional 3:4 million, will be necessary within the next ten years...
...A bad housing shortage will affect every family in the country, and act as a brake on every branch of business and trade activity...
...In the fall Of IMS, as an immediate result of the Recovery program for re-employment, the rate of progress in employment was greater than that of business expansion...
...On the other hand, the construction of these badly needed dwelli ings would be in themselves an almost sure guarantee of prosperity and economic well-being...
...Stated in broadest terms, the housing problem immediately before as comes down to two fundamental questions: (1) What is the total number of dwellings which would be constructed in the next ten years, in order to maintain minimum standards of privacy for American families and in order to * achieve, if possible, a bare mini - ' mum standard of physical decency and safety...
...For Labor realizes aj the enactment of tins law wiian > only avert the otherwise inevfZhousing crisis, bat will to k *ma extent remedy the unempkn^S situation and give us balances ts>¦ nemie recovery...
...The "trickling up" theory is a failure...
...of L. Explains Federation's Plan to Provide Decent Dwellings for the People with Public Funds Under a Permanent Federal Housing Authority—Says Private Enterprise Alone Cannot Cope with Task—Long Range Planning Needed—A Way to Help Solve Unemployment Problem...
...It is not even primarily Labor's concern...
...What has been and what will be the effect of this revival on unemployment ? Are employers returning workers to thej/jobs as fast as they laid tben^off...
...It is clear, then, that in 1946 the "housing problem," in so far as basic standards are concerned, would still be worse than it is today...
...Effective machinery must be provided to broaden its producing and consuming capacity to meet the needs of average citizens...
...to fire or other accident...
Vol. 19 • May 1936 • No. 18
