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Show I Insurance Funds Put Into New Houses; Plan Advanced to Solve Home Shortage Bt EDWARD ML THIERRY. NEW YORK, Oct. t. An rpri-nunt rpri-nunt Ik 1 lnp rondurtoil in Long Island Isl-and City uhl. li Jnay point tho vray to h solution of tli.' national housing hous-ing problem. 'Co-oporntlvo building la tht an-rwr an-rwr to this oconomio auestlon," i its W.iltor Stalilor. romptroll.T of tfc Jletropollt.irt Life Irnuruno.- coin-iPAn' coin-iPAn' B Stabler Is tho man who la hand ling tti' Metropolitan f.uuv.vvu home hulldinp program. Thin radi cal and unprecedented U8 of life in-mironre in-mironre funds for the public benefit la tli.- result of a special amendment to the Insurance law obtained as a Btq'i" l lo Samuel I'utermyer'x spectacular spectac-ular exposure of bulldlnp and h.'.iixlng ill In tr Lockwood committee'! Investigation In-vestigation - Homo are being built for 1030 H families. They will rent for $'J n room and are designed chiefly for industrial workers and persons of I ffmnll inromes. in addition to this building enterprise enter-prise the Metropolitan during the iast three yeara has loaned upwarda of Jl00.OO0.fni0 for the conRtnif t lmi I of 9000 houses and 1000 apartment Uouses in various parts of the country coun-try The Lockwood committers Investigation Inves-tigation pointed to cooperative building build-ing as a euro for housing evils," said Stabler. "Profiteering raised rents i out of proportion In many old properties, prop-erties, while a combination of abnormal ab-normal circumstances increased the Cost of new construction A movement move-ment more or loss altruistic waa nec easary to bring relief. "Honco the program we have undertaken. un-dertaken. In which wc ure seeking M not more than six per cent return on tho Investment and three to five per cent to amortize tho cost of the. .building, as compared to the 15 per scnt and higher demanded by the arpeculatlve bulldor. DEMONSTRATE PRACTICABILITY. "Wa are out to show that good nomea can be built cheaply first, by quantity buying of materials; sec-(ODd, sec-(ODd, by co-operation of labor- and sthlrd, by eliminating profiteering In Kjontrtructlon and materials "Theao homes are being built for! considerably less than Individuals could build them, because of quantity quan-tity production. Nine dollars a room for this class of dwelling Is low In New York. Workers all ovor the city are being charged as high as $20 a room for apartments that used to go begging before tho war at 15 and $." Stabler believes the success of tha Metropolitan's experiment will bring about the construction of homes In many American cities by Co-operative effort of Individuals grouped together and by big employers. 'Employers especially may find In this experiment a solution of their problems of labor and housing." h said "Vitv few have done anvtliinir of the kind. Notable Instances irht i If has been done ar In Akron. " . Where the Ooodyenr tire people built about 1000 houaes and the Firestone company about S00, this was between 11913 and 1917, and tho Metropolitan i provided- 4, 250,000 for the work. Tho J Bndicott-JohnSon Co. has built about 150 houses at Ulnghampton, N. Y. I WILL SELL TO WORKERS The Long Island City homes probably prob-ably will be sold, Stabler says, to families and grotips of families on tho co-operatlo plan on practically a cost basis. Preference Is to bo given workers who contributed to tho undertaking. The now law which permits home building by life insurance companies Will expire In April, 1924, and wheth-j er the building program will be ox- , tended depends on conditions in tho future. "The housing shortage all over the country Is not as serious now aa H I was." Stabler said. "But there is a great deal of doubling up, and I think in spite of record breaking building operations of the past sum- fw Co-operative Apartment HotLM Architect'! Drawing of One of tho N Gronpa and (Boiow) a Drawing showing Uk Interior Arrangements I of One- of tho Suites. m?r tho Miortnge will bromc a c u t . -again when business pots better an. families begin to spread out ' Building: costs, In my opinion, will never drop back to tho pro-war lrni My guess Is that they will bo from fi", to Tfl por cent higher, permanently. permanent-ly. Americans aro building hotter working bettor, and living better and some such radical departure aa CO-Operative building seems necessary to moot our needs." |