Show SLUMS MUST GOVI G O says Straus Housing Authority ChieF Opens Washington Office Ready to Fight Squalor Cy By JOSEPH W IV LaBINE Maybe in the snugness of your living room you thought American living standards were pretty high But that was before a fellow named Nathan Straus became director of the United States Housing Authority After less than two months on the job during which hes he's talked freely Nathan Straus has made Americans hang their heads in shame Our housing conditions he hc explains are re deplorable Mr Straus is not connected with the thc Federal Housing administration which has been insuring loans on private dwellings and is now attempting to stimulate business through a housing boom Although i hes he's interested in the monumental monumental mental task facing Straus Is to clean out the slums He Is administrator for tor the new Wagner act For the present all United States housing activities are aimed at the spectre of Recession a severe dip in business which threatens to wipe out many of the past three years ears gains President Roosevelt seeks to stimulate Americas America's financial pulse with a housing boom through liber- liber liberalization liberalization of existing laws as out out- outlined outlined lined in his special message to con con- congress congress gress on November 29 Through this I program he forecasts construction of to new houses in the next five years The Key to Recovery Reco Though slum clearance and private vale vate housing are two separate enter enter- enterprises prisca both can help avoid Reces Reces- from Crom their squalor someone must help them It is the governments government's move This recognition Is one sign of a amore amore more sense common attitude to- to toward toward ward the housing problem PW s slum clearance projects In New NewYork NewYork York Chicago and other metropolitan tan points were successful in wiping out parts of the blighted area but they failed because the intended ten ten- tenants tenants ants couldn't afford rents of 12 a month per room Frills Are Nice But But- ut- ut Another good sign Js Is Nathan Straus determination to give sensible sensible ble housing without the frills that went with projects sought ideal living conditions in- in incorporating incorporating cross ventilation no walk ups more than three or four j I r l t lf J r tv dt f c A- A P Y it f A r x J cr 7 01 II i i 4 t E I t J t r 0 V J- J I f t f t j 1 t tJ J Y t- t 1 41 ji t tl l Q j i 12 r- r rj M f J IJ r i i fh x l h i rf rJ fM f i j A i ta w Greatest of slum clearance projects was Williamsburg Houses Douses in New York Tork costing covering 12 city blocks and providing homes for 1622 The government go expects to get halt half Its Investment back sion Economists now regard a large volume of new construction as the keystone to further recovery The small Improvement in building evidenced last spring was hit on the head by rising costs strikes an anI I armament boom and growing un un- un uncertainty certainty about the future Drastic action must be taken immediately for Cor America faces the worst housing shortage In its history Speaking conservatively we need new dwelling units every year Actually we built only in 1935 in 1936 and about this year Although Mr Straus building ae ae- ae will be confined to helping those who cannot help themselves it does docs not mean that business will not profit The history of slum clearance projects in which Europe leads America to a shameful de- de degree degree gree Is that government building al- al always always ways stimulates private construe construe- construction tion The Wagner bill was passed by congress last spring alter after altera a storm stormy year three legislative trip Briefly it creates the United States Housing authority which Mr Straus heads It provides halt half a billion dollars to be loaned state and mu- mu municipal municipal housing authorities during the next three years for tor use solely In creating new dwelling units for forthe forthe the tenement population Between and units Is its three three- year goal In addition to the loans annual subsidy appropriations will be made to state and local au- au authorities authorities for making up the differ ditTer- difference ence between the economic rent on houses built buill and what the low low- income renter can afford to pay For 1938 1933 this subsidy appropriation to- to totals this How It Works The government will build no houses or apartment buildings Thir- Thir Thirty Thirty ty states have already adopted en- en sibling acts permitting them to set setup setup up local housing authorities needed for the new program These au- au authorities can borrow 90 per cent of the cost of any project to be reo re- repaid paid within 60 years In addition to the 10 per cent building expense authorities must pay at least one one- fifth the difference between the low rent charged and the economic rent The governments government's rent sub sub- subsidy sidy will never be more than four four- fifths of the difference If a tenant cannot afford to pay the economic rent on his slum slum- cleal clearance apartment why should the government and local housing authority pay the difference The answer is that the government has at last officially recognized that many Americans can never afford to rent sanitary living quarters If these people are to be removed stories and no room entered through another Straus also likes these frills but he realizes the ne- ne necessity neCessity Is to remove Americas America's low low- lowest lowest est third one from the slums into de- de decent decent cent living quarters not to place them in ideal houses Homes built buill under the new Hous Hous- HousIng Ing Authority will rent for 5 to SO 5 possible per room per month if ble They will be plain but they will also be modern and sanitary Such economical housing will not conflict with private Interests Mr Straus claims and with reason No private builder can erect suitable housing in New York or Chicago to rent at much less Jess than 12 to 14 a room per month At least he cant can't do It at a profit Straus knows because he sponsored Hillside a aNew aNew New York private housing project with 1416 apartments renting at an average of 11 a room How United States Housing Ranks Americas America's slum conditions are the worst in tile the Western world No- No where outside the Orient can more squalor be found than in our own metropolitan centers Take indoor plumbing for example Though con con- considered a non essential on the farm it certainly ranks as a vital health factor in crowded city life Yet 25 per cent of American urban homes have no bathing facilities and ond one one- fifth are without private indoor wa- wa water ter closets Approximately American city families are arc without the barest modern improvements Since 1919 about dwelling units have been erected in Great Britain through a combination of public and private effort Ot Of these have been built with some public assistance the remainder by private interests Although Eng Eng Eng- England's lands land's housing program was started under a labor government it was so j s IIII NATHAN STRAUS successful that the conservative ad- ad administration administration ministration continued it iL Economic Factor Although the Ule social aspect of slum clearance has hns long been stressed in inthe the United States It was nn an eco ceo economic development that led to es- es establishment establishment of the Housing AuthorIty ty Juvenile delinquency and physical physical cal deterioration of slum dwellers have been mourned for tor years but the government is tackling its pres- pres present ent job as a business proposition It goes coes deeper than the current Recession Blighted areas affect both the tenement occupant and the themore themore more fortunate in in some respects taxpayer Run down cities require large police fire and hospitalization appropriations Moreover dilapidated ed residential areas spread like a plague destroying neighboring property When these things hap hap- happen happen pen the city is apt to get in serious financial difficulty Look at a moment fron both social and economic view view- viewpoints viewpoints points Twenty one per cent of Cleveland's murders are arc committed in a slum district covering less than 1 per cent of the city's area and housing 2 per cent of the population population tion In Harlem tuberculosis is three times as prevalent as in the rest of New York city A third city finds its wide city police protection costs per capita but in the slums it is 1150 Similar convincing figures can be produced in any city of the nation Unlike Mr Straus does not plan to build apartments In the midst of yesterdays yesterday's ruins New sites will be chosen in areas and tenants will be lilted lifted away from the slums completely In due time if the Housing Authority is successful all present slum sites will be evacuated The property will then be open for commercial development New homes IJames New People Mr Straus does not believe that slum dwellers will create slum con con- conditions wherever they go experience has been good in this re- re respect respect proving that underprivileged classes are largely victims of cir cir- circumstance circumstance ready to reform it if given an opportunity The present billion halt dollar ap- ap appropriation is hardly more than a drop in the Ule bucket Mr l Straus ad- ad admits admits mits To the needy one one- third of our population would re- re require require quire new dwelling units compared with units possible under the present fund But half hal a billion dollars will help get the ball bali rolling and should demonstrate for all time the possibilities in slum clearance work Aided by the ex- ex experience of PW A which did not es- es establish such a bad housing record as many people would believe the new Housing Authority can start Its work without pioneering The newest of the New Deals Deal's ad- ad administrators Mr Straus is probably one of the most capable His with HIllside and other I l A 3 Another slum vanished In Indianapolis to make way for tor Gardens which cost IWA Rents average a 2280 per month for fora fora a three room apartment including utilities vate housing projects equips hIm from the tho practical point of view while his social mindedness gives him enough of the idealists idealist's view view- viewpoint viewpoint point to forge ahead despite obstacles cbs cles His career has been varIed start start- ing starting with two years at Princeton two more at Heidelberg and a few more as a department store official He once published the humorous magazine Puck rose from gob to ensign during the World war and was an active and liberal New York state senator from 1921 to so 1926 His chief interest growing with the years has been low low cost cost low rental housing That That it seems Is the kind of a 1 man who should head the United States housing Author Ity e C Newspaper Union a |