ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

to meet these needs.25 While a basic principle of these Federal programs is to support and not supplant private enterprise, the role of the Government, when all these programs are added together, is in many respects decisive.

...

President Eisenhower stated in his message to Congress on January 25, 1954: "It is . . . properly a concern of this Government to insure that opportunities are provided every American family to acquire a good home." 26 The President said further:

It must be frankly and honestly acknowledged that many members of minority groups, regardless of their income or economic status, have had the least opportunity of all of our citizens to acquire good homes. Some progress, although far too little, has been made by the Housing Agency in encouraging the production and financing of adequate housing available to members of minority groups. However, the administrative policies governing the operations of the several housing agencies must be, and they will be, materially strengthened and augmented in order to assure equal opportunity for all of our citizens to acquire, within their means, good and well-located homes. [Emphasis added.]

The former Administrator of the HHFA, Mr. Albert M. Cole, expressed similar sentiments on several occasions. Two weeks after the above message of the President, Mr. Cole stated, with respect to slum clearance and low-income housing, that "the critical factor in the situation which must be met is the factor of racial exclusion from

25 According to sec. 301 of the Housing Act of 1948, it is the duty of the HHFA Administrator to "prepare and submit to the President and to the Congress estimates of national urban and rural nonfarm housing needs and reports with respect to the progress being made toward meeting such needs." 62 Stat. 1268, 1276. In the Housing Act of 1956 Congress "authorized and directed" the HHFA Administrator "to undertake such programs of investigation, analysis, and research as he determines to be necessary and appropriate," including programs to "develop and supply data and information on

"(1) the housing inventory of the Nation and the production, use, and demolition and conversion of residential structures and such factors as effect the total supply of housing;

(2) mortgage market problems;

(3) the extent to which adequate housing is available to the low-income and middleincome families of the Nation through public and private means. . . ." Sec. 602, Public Law 1020, 84th Cong., 2d sess.

Members of both the House and the Senate Banking and Currency committees have indicated on various occasions that such estimates are of considerable importance in determining what should be included in housing legislation to meet realistically America's housing needs. But Congress has not appropriated funds for this purpose and no such estimates or reports have been made since 1953.

The lack of full official estimates of the Nation's housing needs, including an official analysis of the special housing needs of minority groups, has hindered this Commission's attempt to appraise Federal housing laws and policies in terms of the equal protection of the laws. See Report No. 41, Senate Banking and Currency Comm., Housing Act of 1959, 86th Cong., 1st sess., p. 60.

20 100 Cong. Rec. 737-38. Not until after World War II did this concern receive national priority. Federal housing programs were originally proposed as antidepression measures. The stimulation of employment was the first objective of the FHA home mortgage loan insurance as proposed by President Roosevelt in 1934 (78 Cong. Rec. 8739-8740). In the Housing Act of 1937 Congress declared that the first objective of the public housing program was "to alleviate present and recurring unemployment." 50 Stat. 888. A "decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family" and "adequate housing for all the people" became national purposes in the 1949 and 1954 acts. 63 Stat. 413; 68 Stat. 590, 637.

the greater and better part of our housing supply." He said that "no program of housing or urban improvement . . . can hope to make more than indifferent progress until we open up adequate opportunities to minority families for decent housing." 27

These statements were made before the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the rule of "separate but equal." As it becomes increasingly clear that the law of the land and the public policy of the United States prohibits racial discrimination in official programs of any kind, the Federal housing agencies have serious problems of transition from policies of sanctioning and in some instances actually promoting racial segregation to new nondiscriminatory policies.

Some quiet progress has been made within the housing agencies in giving greater attention to problems of racial equity, in encouraging the housing industry to build more housing for minorities, and in opening new avenues for financing of minority and open occupancy projects. Also the Federal agencies are cooperating with States that have adopted antidiscrimination laws. But Federal mortgage loan insurance still goes unquestioningly to builders of great projects and new development towns who openly plan to, and do, exclude Negroes. Public housing projects in many parts of the country are in fact segregated either by declared city policy, as in Atlanta, or by the process of site location, as in Chicago. Urban renewal projects are in some places accentuating or creating patterns of clear-cut racial separation.

No one can say that the HHFA in recent years has moved very far or very fast in this matter. The former Administrator, Mr. Cole, did hold off-the-record conferences with industry leaders, urging them to help open the housing market to minority families. But he appears to have found this a most discouraging problem. On November 13, 1958, he said, according to the New York Times, that the Federal Government "had no responsibility to promote the ending of racial discrimination in residential accommodations." 28

The present Administrator of HHFA, Mr. Norman P. Mason, told the Commission that he had "certain more positive or different policies" in this respect than Mr. Cole.29 In one of his first statements after his appointment in January 1959, Mr. Mason said that "my hope and wish now is that we may be able to move further and faster toward the goal of equal opportunity in housing." His objective, he said, was "to act, rather than just to talk.” 30

"Address to the Economic Club of Detroit, "What Is the Federal Government's Role in Housing?", Feb. 8, 1954.

[blocks in formation]

30 Address before National Urban League, New York, Apr. 14, 1959.

...

To the Commission, Mr. Mason stated his belief that

[W]e can and must take needed action in all our programs to assure equal treatment and opportunity in their benefits to all our citizens, irrespective of race, color or creed. I believe it is my responsibility to give leadership and guidance in both policy development and its implementation in this field."

The Federal Government, he said

has inherent basic responsibilities in administering its programs equally to its citizens. It also has at hand an inventory of national experience that belongs to the people and must be made available as a significant tool for moving for ward in this field. There are many ways to lead by cooperating, by encouraging, by stimulating. It is sometimes necessary to prod, but whatever the method, it is my view, we must lead."

As a first step forward implementing the responsibility of the Federal Government, Mr. Mason said he was engaged in working out measures designed to overhaul and revitalize the Intergroup Relations Service so as to make it an effective force for achieving equality of treatment in the Government housing programs. Said Mr. Mason:

I am now engaged in plans to bring together in the Office of the Administrator a leadership nucleus of informed intergroup relations specialists drawn from various racial backgrounds. These must be people knowledgeable with respect to housing programs and the many complex intergroup adjustments involved in this field. The directing head of this group will report directly to me. I expect to look to this staff nucleus for specialized advice and assistance. I will extend their usefulness where needed throughout the Agency. This staff must be of recognized stature and competent with understanding of developments within the Federal agency and outside. I will expect them to recommend, for my consideration, specific programs and steps for continuously increasing the effectiveness of Federal programs in serving this market ***

In addition to this staff nucleus, it is my conviction that one of our most needed steps is to bring successfully into our efforts sympathetic understanding and the affirmative participation of the entire personnel throughout the housing agencies for the Agency responsibility on this front can be fully discharged only to the degree that every employee discharges his full measure of the responsibility.

33

Convinced that a "system of rewards" will do more to solve our housing problems than "police actions", Mr. Mason is devising a plan for gearing all the federal housing programs to rewarding "communities that really want to have all their citizens living in harmony". He believes that the urban renewal "workable program" which does offer rewards is a "potent force" to accomplish this objective.34

In each of its three regional housing hearings, the Commission heard various recommendations for the issuance of an Executive order by the President to assure equal opportunity in Federal housing 31 Washington Hearing, p. 5.

a3 Id. at 8.

33 Ibid.

34 Id. at 11, 34.

programs. These proposals ranged from those which would immediately ban all racial segregation or discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin to those which would end such discrimination gradually. Many of these proposals included provisions for establishing a Presidential committee to either administer or review nondiscriminatory programs or to study and advise the housing agencies as to how best to accomplish equal opportunity.

Some witnesses in Atlanta testified that any immediate Federal requirement of an end to discrimination in Federal housing programs would mean an end to the programs themselves in some areas, and would thus do more harm than good. Mr. Mason also doubted the 'value of trying to ban all discrimination forthwith through an Executive order. Said Mr. Mason:

Until we have more fully caught up with the housing needs of America, it seems to me that this might be a dangerous step to take. We don't accomplish the objective we strive for by suddenly causing a depression in the supply of new housing, which might happen as the result of such action if taken precipitously.

35

However, he thought a Presidential committee on equal opportunity in housing or some "continuing group" to take up where this Commission leaves off was an "excellent suggestion" and "would be helpful." 36

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

Since 1934 the Federal Housing Administration has administered the various Federal mortgage loan insurance programs.37 The following short summary of the most pertinent provisions of the National Housing Act indicates the far-reaching nature of these FHA programs:

Title I

Section 2 authorizes FHA to insure qualified lending institutions against loss on loans made to finance the alteration, repair, improvement, or conversion of existing structures and the building of small new nonresidential structures. Title II

Section 203 authorizes the insurance of mortgages on new and existing oneto four-family dwellings.

Section 207 authorizes the insurance of mortgages, including construction advances, on rental housing projects of eight or more family units.

Section 213 authorizes the insurance of mortgages on cooperative housing projects of eight or more family units. It also authorizes FHA to furnish technical advice and assistance in the organization of cooperatives and the planning, development, construction and operation of their projects.

Section 220 authorizes FHA insurance on liberal terms to assist in financing and rehabilitation of existing salvable housing and the replacement of slums

Id. at 35.

38 Id. at 35-36.

7 FHA was established by the National Housing Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 1246.

with new housing in areas certified to FHA as eligible by the Housing and Home Finance Administrator.

Section 221 authorizes mortgage insurance on low-cost housing for relocation of families from urban renewal areas and families displaced by Government action.

Section 222 authorizes the insurance of mortgages on dwellings owned and occupied by persons on active duty with the Armed Forces or the Coast Guard. Section 223 authorizes the insurance under Sections 203, 207, and 213 of mortgages on specified types of permanent housing sold by the Federal or State government.

Title VII

Authorizes the insurance of a minimum amortization charge and a minimum annual return on outstanding investments in rental housing projects for families of moderate income where no mortgage is involved.

Title VIII

Authorizes the insurance of mortgages on housing built on or near military reservations for the use of personnel of the Armed Forces and houses built for sale to civilians employed at military research and development installations.

FHA has written mortgage insurance on more than 5,000,000 homes and on multifamily rental and cooperative housing projects that house more than 800,000 families. Property improvement loans have been approved for more than 22,000,000 home owners.38

The impact of the FHA programs on the housing market has obviously been tremendous. They have covered from eight or nine percent to almost 30 percent of the whole mortgage market.39 Out of a total of 1,343,000 housing units built in multi-family structures during the 11-year period from 1947 through 1957, 709,000 or nearly 53 percent were started with FHA assistance.40 From 1934 to the end of 1955, FHA insured the mortgages on 29 percent of all new, private nonfarm residential construction." One of the country's largest builders of low and medium priced homes has said that “we are 100 percent dependent on the Government. Whether this is right or wrong it is a fact." 42

An article in Fortune magazine concluded that "the overwhelming fact is that Government guarantee of mortgages, which has cost the taxpayer nothing so far, has done more than anything else to make possible a million or more new houses a year." 43

38 Washington Hearing, p. 3.

39 Id. at 3-4. After World War II, the Veterans' Administration loan guaranty program increased the proportion of the market covered by Federal mortgage insurance.

40 Rep. No. 1732 on S. 4035, Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, June 1958, p. 4.

41 HHFA, Housing Statistics, vol. 8, No. 1 (January 1955); Department of Commerce, Construction Review, vol. 2, No. 3 (March 1956).

43 Testimony of William Levitt before House Committee on Banking and Currency. hearings on Housing Act of 1957, March 1957, p. 566.

43 "The Insatiable Market for Housing." Fortune, February 1954.

« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »