HOMES AHEAD FOR AMERICA

...and the initiative in making use of aids or benefits of whatever nature provided by the Federal Government shall come from the community without stimulation or direction by the Federal Government...

...Instead of separate measures, enacted at different times, to meet varying circumstances, and considered without relationship one to another, we now have, in the Report of the Sub-Committee on Housing and Urban Redevelopment of the Senate Postwar Economic Policy and Planning Committee, the base upon which a many-sided, but well-balanced and coordinated legislative program for the future may be built...

...It is therefore the policy of the Federal Government to encourage the expansion of private enterprise so that it will more broadly serve the housing needs of all American families...

...The 7 Senators are: Taft (Ohio), chairman...

...IN VIEW of this, the Subcommittee was forced to call upon the National Housing Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture to undertake at once a joint survey with a view to creating means for improving farm housing in ways that will be consistent with an economically sound agricultural program...

...The continuance of important housing research work in other governmental bureaus, such as a regularly repeated Housing Census, is also recommended...

...Cities would be allowed to make their own decisions as to what the proper land use might be, and private enterprise would be encouraged to carry the largest proportion of the rebuilding...

...The Report also advocates several measures designed to promote the building of more private dwellings for rent—modification in corporate tax laws, insurance of mortgages for small groups of rental dwellings whether apartments or houses, and the encouragement of large urban rental developments, such as have been carried out in a few states by insurance companies...

...THE most striking new departure in the Report is the recommendation that the Federal Government provide aid to cities for clearing slums apart from public housing...

...While the testimony before the Subcommittee clearly revealed the deplorable condition of much of our farm housing and the lack of credit and other facilities to farmers who desired to improve their condition, no convincing or conclusive proposals were offered either by Government or private witnesses...

...It is hoped that this survey will be ready for Congressional review and action in the Fall...

...The continuance of the Federal public housing program is recommended with additional authorizations which would permit the building of 500,000 dwellings over a 4-year period...

...Sens...

...Public intervention must be designed and administered so as to stimulate and supplement, not to impede or supplement private operations...

...WHILE these agencies would remain "responsible to Congress for their individual operations, they would be subjected to broad policy interpretation by a National Housing Administrator...

...The use of public funds and the granting of subsidies to housing operations shall be so limited as to serve only those needs which ean-not or are not likely to be met through the use of the existing stock of housing or of new housing privately provided...

...Stated in its simplest terms, this proposal would permit the Federal Government to absorb two-thirds of the loss that might be involved from buying up slum land, clearing and replanning the area, and reselling it at prices consistent with its proper use...

...These conclusions cover the underlying policies to be followed by Congress, and the means to be employed in making those policies effective...

...The/Administrator would also be responsible for maintaining harmonious working relationships among the 3 sub-agencies, for keeping Congress informed as to the progress of the whole program, for recommendations as to future modifications in the program, and for carrying on certain types of research for the benefit of all the sub-agencies and the public at large...

...But the report has greater importance than that...

...THE policy statement stresses the primacy of private enterprise and of local initiative and control...

...It places the Federal Government in a secondary role, keeping its aids supplementary to what can be accomplished otherwise and endeavoring to prevent Federal assistance from becoming an instrument of federal dictation...

...The problem of farm housing proved the most perplexing of all...

...The study of legislation, in light of the report, is expected to continue during the remainder of the Summer, with the probability that a bill or bills having support of the full Subcommittee can be presented after the recess...

...After a careful review of the activities of the Federal Home Loan Bank Administration and the Federal Housing Administration, the Report concludes that these should be continued with only minor modifications aimed chiefly at encouraging a larger production of low priced houses for sale...

...It represents the conclusions of 7 Senators, each of whom has been previously concerned with housing legislation, after months of pub-lie hearings and deliberations among themselves...

...Recognizing that the success of any program must depend upon effective administration, the first group of recommendations propose a permanent federation of the 3 main housing agencies of the Government: the Home Loan Bank Administration, the Federal Housing Administration, and the Federal Public Housing Authority...

...Wagner (New York), Rad-cliffe (Maryland), Buck (Delaware), La Follette (Wisconsin), Ellender (Louisiana), Chavez (New Mexico...

...As summarized in the report, the statement of policy deserves the emphasis of quotation: Position of Private Initiative "The provision of housing in the United States is declared to be primarily and predominantly the function of private investment and finance, private construction, and private ownership and management...

...To this end recommendations are made for modification of WPB and OPA policies to speed up the restoration of materials production, the filling of dealers' stocks, and elimination of restrictions on builders...

...This is news in itself...

...The Report is especially concerned with the difficulties ahead in getting the complex construction industry quickly back to work—in the belief that the only way of successfully combatting an inflation in housing costs is to get more houses built and, through that, to reestablish a really competitive market...

...Local Responsibility "The determination of housing requirements shall be primarily the responsibility of the community and not of the Federal Government...

...Wagner and Ellender have introduced legislation dealing in part with some of the recommendations...

...However, modifications are urged in the public housing law to assure that only low income families could occupy the houses, that all projects are initiated and approved by the local government, and that the rents are kept at least 20 per cent below the lowest rents in safe and sanitary private dwellings in the community...

...These are the highlights of this significant report...