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Show ALTHOUGH new homes leem to be sprouting like mushrooms mush-rooms In the suburbs of practically prac-tically every American city, the president of the National Assocla-tion Assocla-tion of Home Builders repently has told the Senate Banking it Currency Committee that the "mortgage money drought" is keeping many prospective new home owners from having a place of their own. Urging the committee to approve ap-prove a $4,500,000,000 increase In the secondary mortgage-buying funds of the Federal National Mortgage Association, Geo. S. Goodyear said: "People who want homes and ordinarily would be able to purchase them are being squeezed out of the market because be-cause of the shortage of mortgage mort-gage money." The bill being considered by the committee would direct the Secretary Sec-retary of the Treasury to purchase pur-chase an additional $100-million of FNMA preferred stock. Under law. FNMA could sell its deben-tures deben-tures for 10 times its capital and surplus and thus raise $1,000,000,-000 $1,000,000,-000 in the private securities market mar-ket to be used to buy FHA and VA loans in the so-called "secondary market." The spokesman for 40,000 members mem-bers of the NAHB termed the bill "inadequate" saying that "more drastic treatment" is needed In this "grave credit emergency." emer-gency." The homebulider's spokesman said the NAHB believes the downward down-ward trend in building of new homes can be reversed only if FNMA is provided with sufficient funds to permit It "to buy freely (mortgages) over as long a period peri-od as may be necessary to ride out the storm." He suggested 230 1 million dollars immediately for a "special assistance fund," plus an additional 2,000,000,000 as needed. Such funds could be used to provide mortgage credit In geographic areas . and In price ranges where not now available, under rules prescribed by the agency, Goodyear suggested, adding add-ing that the presence in the mortgage mort-gage market of a sufficient fund of this nature "will have a tremendous tre-mendous stabilizing effect . . . and serve notice that the price for FHA and VA loans will not continue Indefinitely to sink." Goodyear also recommended removal of the limitation which prevents FNMA from purchasing any mortgage over $13,000 In principal prin-cipal amount. He said this limitation limita-tion has an unequal effect in various vari-ous parts of the country. The Charlotte, N. C, builder said that as a result of the "tight-money" "tight-money" policies of the past year, GI loans have become practically practical-ly non-existent and FHA insured loans only slightly more available. avail-able. Senator Thurston B. Morton, Kentucky, has announced that he Is co-sponsor of a bill which will make it an unfair labor practice prac-tice to refuse employment to an individual over forty-five years of age simply because of age, where the requirements of the position do not require such a distinction. The bill, called "The National Act Against Age Dis-crimination Dis-crimination in Employment," would provide for a first approach through conciliation and persuasion persua-sion and only after that has failed would It authorize enforcement. Before the enforcement stage would be reached, a hearing or notice would be required. |