thing is going on all over the country and one of the requests we wanted to make, because we cannot get these facts, is a survey by some competent committee of Congress, that will compel the local housing authorities to reveal just how many public employees are living in these housing projects, because we think there are hundreds and thousands of them As I say, there were 120 in Birmingham alone. So this thing is going the same way that it did in Europe, in Vienna, when there was a change in government in 1936, and they threw out 16,000 public employees who were living in the public housing, and they had to do it with gas bombs and machine guns. Every time there was a change of government, they emptied out all of the public housing projects and a new crowd moved in. Senator CAPEHART. Do you think we might get all Democrats in and all Republicans out, and vice versa? Mr. NELSON. I have some facts on that which you might like to have. I have here from Detroit, for the last national election, six housing projects showing the vote cast for Mr. Dewey and Mr. Roosevelt in the last election. It is about four to one. Senator CAPEHART. You may read them. Put them in the record. Mr. NELSON. They are rather long, but the total was for all of these projects, for Mr. Roosevelt, 4,503 votes. This is a matter of public record. For Mr. Dewey, there were 1,262 votes, about four to one. (The information is as follows:) Miss PEARL JANET DAVIES, DETROIT REAL ESTATE BOARD, Detroit, Mich., February 12, 1946. National Association of Real Estate Boards, Washington, D. C. DEAR MISS DAVIES: Replying to your note and subsequent telegram, I am enclosing data for which you asked. I am sorry to have delayed, but it was necessary to get at records in various places in the city-one place to get the election precincts and another to get the tabulation. We are using the 1944 Presidential vote as best showing Republican and Democratic division. For the turn-over, see page 44 of the enclosed annual report. This is the report for the year 1944, as the report for 1945 is not yet available, although I hope to have and send you later the 1945 turn-over for the six permanent projects. I think the entire booklet containing the report will be of interest to Mr. Nelson and perhaps give him some pointers besides those he has asked to have corroborated. NOTE.-Herman Gardens vote represents the project itself. Brewster and Sojourner Truth are Negro. Miss PEARL JANET DAVIES, DETROIT REAL ESTATE BOARD, National Association of Real Estate Boards, Washington, D. C. DEAR MISS DAVIES: Following is the information you requested on turn-ove? at our projects for the year of 1945: Here is the data from Detroit on votes in public housing precincts. For turn-over of tenants Miss Becker says, "See page 44 of attached booklet." This would give only the 1944 turno-ver. Should we ask Miss Becker to try to get further figures? Is the following what you really want? How many families now in Detroit housing projects have been there since the opening of the project? or How many years of living in the project do the present families represent? How many years of living in the project would the total history of the projects represent (number of units multiplied by number of years of life of the project)? This last would be somewhat hard to get. Mr. NELSON. I happen to have here also the record for some of the public-housing projects from Senator Taft's district down in Cincinnati, and that shows the same kind of a disproportion. (The information is as follows:) Result of general election, public housing projects, Hamilton County, Ohio, November 1944 Result of general election, public housing projects, Hamilton County, Ohio, November 1947—Continued Mr. NELSON. Our experience all over is that these tenants of public housing projects vote the way the political wind blows, and they tend more and more to become a political football. Senator CAPEHART. We have had much testimony to that effect. Mr. NELSON. This is concrete. Senator CAPEHART. There is much testimony here that the wrong kind of people are living in these public housing units. People that were not entiled to live in them are living, and their incomes were beyond what the law specified. Mr. NELSON. May I say something to Senator Robertson on that, that is, about the veteran? Senator, last fall, we went to Wilson Wyatt, and we went to the committees of Congress and we went to the NHA, and we said that we thought it would be fair if a veteran on the street getting $20 a week severance pay, with a family, were allowed to move into a public housing unit even if they had to put out some family that was getting $4,000 or $5,000 or $6,000 a year. They said, "No; that would be disturbing our clients. That would not be proper." So, all Mr. Wilson Wyatt's talk, and he was the head then of the Public Housing Agency because he was the head of NHA, his talk about the concern for the veteran had no practical result in the very thing that he controlled, namely, public housing. Senator ROBERTSON of Virginia. I may say, sir, I do not know why the program did not work. There are a number of factors, including of course, the great increase in the cost of construction, but I do know that the veterans have not gotten the housing that they expected to get, and that the plans that we made for them did not materialize and a good many of them now think there are certain features of the pending bill that might help them. Mr. NELSON. Here is the answer to why the program did not work. This is a book we call The House that Jack Built. It was assembled in Chicago by three men who worked on it 5 or 6 weeks and this consists of all of the priorities and all of the certifications and permits that you had to get from CPA and NHA and OPA and all of the Federal agencies and all of the local permissions, many of which are essential of course and necessary, from the building department and from the various municipal departments. Now, the total of these is 263. Senator CAPEHART. You mean you have to get 263 permits before you can start a house? Mr. NELSON. During the process of building the house. Senator CAPEHART. During the start and the building of the house? Mr. NELSON. To build one house. Senator CAPEHART. You must get 263 permits? Mr. NELSON. Yes. Snator CAPEHART. Is that in such form that we could place it in the record? I do not mean the entire book, but could you give us the 263 permits, say, headed at the top "The 263 permits required," and then start in and number them "1," and so on? Mr. NELSON. Yes, sir. Senator CAPEHART. Will you do that? How soon can you do that? How long will it take? Mr. NELSON. We can do that by tomorrow. Senator CAPEHART. Without objection, I think it would be well to place it in the record. (The information to be furnished is as follows:) THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (The list below will be found on page noted in above book) Index of Federal regulations and requirements: Preliminary subdivision lay-out submitted by FHA Photographs of tract__ Revised plan prepared by planner for FHA_ Conference with FHA in reference to priorities_ NHA priority application__ Review by Priority Section of FHA. Priorities issued___. Submit subdivision plan approved by city commission to FHA. Application for conditional commitment to FHA Form No. 2201. Description of materials to FHA Subdivision requirements sent by FHA to developer--. Recorded plat and protective covenants sent to FHA__ 43 44 70 90 Index of Federal regulations and requirements-Continued FHA compliance inspection report.. Statement on veterans' preference for FHA. Mortgagee's application for mortgage insurance to FHA.. Page 129 136 139 Restudy plan to meet commission suggestion_. Resubmit plan to plan commission_-_ Review and certification by plan commission__- Transmittal to map department by plan commission_. Request for data on water requirements_ 20 21 22 24 25 26 45 46 Council refers order to committee of local industries, streets and alleyways-- 54 |