A Place to Live

One of the most pressing and controversial items which will come before the 81st Congress is public housing. A serious problem long before the War, it remained unsolved in the last session when the Taft-Ellender-Wagner Bill failed to win approval. It is understood that two housing bills will be given to the President this week to insure prompt attention in the next session.

One of them, sponsored by the Housing and Home Finance Agency, recommends little more than the abandoned T-E-W Bill. The other, written by a well known group of housing experts with the support of virtually every type of politically active organization, makes more progressive proposals. The basic similarity in both measures, however, indicates that the question is no longer whether or not there will be public housing as in the last session, but rather what form the program will take.

When Senator Taft recommended eliminating the T-E-W Bill from the special session last summer, he virtually threw away two years of legislative struggle to get an adequate housing law through Congress. Though not entirely responsible himself, his final blow added another subject to Truman's list of accusations at the "do-nothing" Congress.

The T-E-W Bill was reported on the Senate floor in April, 1947, and soon passed the Senate for the first time. It fared less well thereafter, for it was consistently kept out of the House by the Banking and Currency Committee. In spite of the efforts of Senator Tobey in the emergency summer session, the House blockade remained unbroken; Jesse Wolcott, Chairman of the House Banking Committee, Speaker Martin, Majority Leader Halleck, and Chairman Allen of the Rules Committee absolutely refused to allow its consideration.

Although there is no doubt that the Real Estate lobby stopped the Bill, it is difficult to understand the opposition. Considering the gravity of the present housing crisis (estimates of the need run as high as 1.5 million units per year until 1960), it was a mild proposal which had almost complete support throughout the country. It called for Federal subsidies to local or state governments for 500,000 units of public housing per year for the next four years. Only those with incomes less than $2100 a year would be eligible, a group which speculative builders cannot pretend to cater to, for rents would not have exceeded $32 per month.

The Bill also strengthened the National Housing Agency. It would have appropriated $25 million for local research studies, strengthened existing aids to privately financed housing and provided Federal loans to localities for slum clearance and redevelopment. There were other titles for rural and farm housing and a provision for a yearly survey by the NHA and local officials to check needs and the progress of the program. The maximum appropriation per year would have been $133 million.

Of the two bills President Truman will receive this week, that of the Housing and Home Finance Agency is the milder.

The second bill, privately sponsored, recognizes the increased need which has developed since the T-E-W Bill was first introduced more than a year and a half ago and contains a broader program. It includes the 500,000 units for low income groups of the old bill, but increases the total program to provide 300,000 units for the $2100-$3600 bracket. It also extends the planning and research title to coordinate urban decentralization for defense and use of vacant land rather than slum clearance when the shortage is so severe.

If the President decides to steer this bill to Congress in January, it will be much more bitterly fought by the Real Estate interests than its predecessor. It would aid a higher income group which speculative builders call their own, though they have overlooked it so far. On the other hand, the 300,000 additional units would not cost taxpayers anything, for they would be financed by low interest government loans rather than subsidies. And this proposal is more in keeping with Democratic campaign promises than the conservative HHFA suggestions.

There is no easy or quick solution to the housing problem. Though long overdue, any program must be long range and well organized. All public measures must aim primarily at stimulating the private builder, for only he can supply the largest proportion of needed homes. Federal aid should provide for the income groups which he cannot help, partly because of inflated building costs. There must be Federal coordination from the top to aid and advise local groups, to plan better cities, and to prevent destruction of present facilities even for the purpose of improving them. No Utopia is in sight, but the 81st Congress, when it assembles on January 3, cannot long delay a start toward improving a situation in which one third of the nation lacks adequate shelter.