Albuquerque area.

August..

The Bureau of the Census recently announced on March 18, 1947, the results of a veterans' housing survey which it made between July and September 1946. The surveys were made in 70 selected cities and reveal some of the facts about the veterans' housing desires and his income which must be taken into account in considering any housing legislation.

Incidentally, there are also 32 more cities being surveyed and when those are complete, the Bureau of Census will complete the report, with over 102 cities included.

I sincerely hope that every member of this committee will have the occasion to study this survey as it pertains to his own particular area. The survey concretely presents the housing problem when it shows that from 30 to 40 percent of married veterans are living in rented rooms or doubled up with in-laws.

We include rented rooms in the category of doubling up with in-laws because the rented room, as you know, is not an apartment. It does not include home-cooking facilities, private bath, and so forth.

In Los Angeles County, Calif., for example, fully 50 percent of the married veterans in that area are without desirable living quarters. In the New York City area, some 44 percent of the married veterans fall into this category. For the New Orleans area in Louisiana, the Detroit area of Michigan, and the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania the figures are respectively 32, 51, and 43 percent.

The survey also vividly demonstrates that veterans cannot afford either the rental or purchase cost of new housing. The median weekly income of veterans is shown to be between $40 and $50. In the majority of cases they cannot afford to pay more than $40 a month rent, and they cannot afford housing costing over $6,000.

Now, I remember when Mr. Wyatt first made his recommendations to the President. His survey, which was over a year ago, reported exactly the same figures as were proven by this Bureau of the Census report taken last summer.

In passing, I would like to add a couple of other figures: One and a half to two million veterans are in the lowest income group and average $30 a week, and therefore cannot afford more than $30 a month rent. So do not be misled by this $40 to $50 income. That is the average. A million and a half to two million are lower than that. These figures present in the cold language of statistics the crushing problem which is facing the veteran. Even under the Wyatt program new housing costing up to $80 a month in rentals and $10,000 approximately in purchase price was permitted.

These figures, as we now know, are rapidly becoming minimums. The Wall Street Journal-I am sure many of you join me in reading that religiously every morning-reported in a survey printed February 17, 1947, that over-all building costs are up 86 percent over 1939 and have reached an all-time peak. In that connection, we are interested in how far they will fall back.

From my talks with some economists, I think that Mayor LaGuardia's estimate of 25 percent below present costs is perhaps even optimistic. Builders are curtailing their programs up to 90 and 95 percent because of the current record high costs, according to the same source. And Mr. Chairman, I would like to include this article in the Wall Street Journal of February 17. It quotes many specific cases from some 11 different cities in which the survey was made.