Mr. BLANDFORD. This bill would only permit of our turning over to local communities who firmly determined that they want those units which are characterized and determined to be permanent units. Senator MCFARLAND. Already, or in the past?

Mr. BLANDFORD. Well

Senator MCFARLAND. Or in the future?

Mr. BLANDFORD. Determined to be permanent in the past and confirmed as of the time they are to be turned over. If they were of such quality and condition that they wouldn't become future slums, they were in fact permanent units.

Senator MCFARLAND. Well, take some of the buildings which would never be slums, which you have classified as temporary. Mr. BLANDFORD. Temporary.

Senator MCFARLAND. Built as temporary. Is there any provision whereby those can be changed over to a permanent status and used in the future?

Mr. BLANDFORD. No. We will be pleased to review any case of that kind where the community feels that our judgment is wrong, but the act, the Lanham Act, the act of the Congress, provides that all these temporary units, which you remember were strip-tease housing-they have smallroom sizes; they have very primitive facilities, particularly in the utilities. They are of small sizes and of substitute material-the wiring is sketchy-in order to save critical material. Well, the Congress, conscious of the condition of those houses, which is not as good as appears superficially, instructed us to have them demolished within 2 years.

Senator MCFARLAND. I have in mind, and probably I could take it up with you privately, but I have in mind some houses which you probably classified as temporary here

Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes.

Senator MCFARLAND. According to the standards of the East, because they were built of wood, which in a dry climate would be there 40 or 50 years from now.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Of course we would get the judgment of the man representing our office who lives out there the regional representative. It is entirely possible, and what you have in mind, thatwell, first, we don't know, do we, whether they are classified as permanent or temporary, but if they are on the borderline

Senator MCFARLAND. I don't want to take the time of the committee to go into specific cases with you.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes.

Senator MCFARLAND. But what I wanted to know (because if the bill doesn't make provision for that, I want to introduce a bill or an amendment to this bill which will) is whether this bill would permit of that reclassification in the use, of that bill. Those houses were built under the Lanham Act for temporary use

Mr. BLANDFORD. That is right, sir.

Senator MCFARLAND. And were supposed to be temporary, were supposed to be torn down.

Mr. BLANDFORD. That is the spirit and letter of the Lanham Act. We have the administrative discretion for determining what is temporary and what is permanent. We also have, I think, the authority, when there is a borderline case, to share a slight expenditure of funds

80525-46--pt. 19

to put it in improvements or facilities which would classify it in a permanent status, and then dispose of it on the premise that that would produce larger return to the Government.

Senator MCFARLAND. I do not want to take more of your time now. I will take this up with you privately on the specific cases I have.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes, sir. I would be very happy to go into it. We were talking about the interrelationship of the whole problem in the community. Many aspects of the housing problem, such as urban redevelopment, require new admixtures of private and public action. But all should be fused and integrated toward a single object, which is the provision of decent housing for all the people and at costs within their means.

If we start with this problem at the community level, we see that the first task rests with the communities-to appraise their housing needs, and to seek to meet them insofar as possible through their own efforts. In the final analysis, however, there are certain aids which are required from the Federal Government, whether these aids be in the form of a home loan bank system, or mortgage insurance, or public housing, or research, or aid for land assembly. Certainly we should simplify rather than diversify and complicate the lines of contact between the community and the Federal Government in the housing area. Certainly the Federal Government's own activity in this important area should be consistent and coordinated, since they all have an impact upon the amount of investment in housing, the amount of employment in housing, and the consumer stake in housing.

For these reasons, we believe that a single National Housing Agency represents a sound principle. From our experience with this type of unification during the war, we have had the unique opportunity, seldom offered, to try out a form of organization temporarily and tentatively before it is made permanent. Almost no one is prepared to come forward and say that the consolidation of housing during the war did not cope more successfully with problems which it would have been almost impossible to deal with through the scattered efforts of different housing agencies all over the Government. That, in fact, was demonstrated before the consolidation. The peacetime housing effort will be very different from the war effort, but there are certain fundamental principles of efficient and sensible operations that are applicable to both. The housing agencies are now consolidated; and we feel that it would be extremely unwise to tear them apart again. The assembled materials, which we have made available for each member of the committee, contain a copy of Executive Order 9070, which on February 24, 1942, accomplished the wartime consolidation of the various housing agencies. I should like now to call briefly to the attention of the committee two charts, one of which shows the organization of housing activities prior to the consolidation, and the other of which shows the simplification which came after the consolidation. I should like to have these materials inserted in the record following the conclusion of my statement.

Your materials also include two interesting, informative, and detailed exhibits, one illustrating the important participatory role of the National Housing Agency as a whole in home financing, and the other setting forth fully the complete statutory resources and factual accomplishments of the three main constituent units now within the Agency. The committee may wish to insert these materials in the record following my statement.

I do want to say that while the present bill perfects and makes permanent the present temporary consolidation of the various housing agencies, it nonetheless preserves for the three constituent unitsthe Federal Home Loan Bank Administration, the Federal Housing Administration, and the Federal Public Housing Authority-the statutory responsibility for their respective operations, the entity, and the prestige, which have been vested in them by the acts of Congress under which they were established. The bill provides for the necessary unity and teamwork, without setting up a top-heavy superagency or detracting from the inspiration and drive that the constituent units will derive from retaining their identities and a large measure of independent initiative.

Since this matter of housing organization has been gone into in such great detail by a representative subcommittee of the Senate, and since their report is so firm and complete on this point, it would be a little presumtpuous for me to take more of your time in discussing it. I shall, of course, be glad at any time to respond to any requests for facts or information bearing upon it.

In conclusion, I should like to say a few words about the bill as a whole. Despite its comprehensive character, its provisions are moderate throughout. The proposal for housing research at the Federal level has been advanced repeatedly, at one time or another, by almost every segment of the home-building and home-financing industry. The amendments affecting the Federal Home Loan Bank Administration and the FHA embodied in title III of the bill, have with one or two exceptions been recommended, not only by these two organizations, but also on several occasions by a clear majority of all the groups involved in the utilization of these programs. The plans for reaching the middle market through FHA insurance, contained in title IV of the bill, are new but not strikingly so. Some of the private enterprise groups most heavily engaged in the FHA program have quite recently recommended some reduction in interest rates, some lengthening of the amortization term, and some lowering of the required down payment, both for individual homes and for rental housing. The yield insurance plan in title V represents, in good measure, agreement, I think, of private investors who want this outlet for their funds. The movement for Federal aid for urban redevelopment was largely the result of stimulus by the Urban Land Institute, an affiliate of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, at whose request the chairman of this committee introduced a bill on this subject more than a year ago.

I am also informed that some legislative proposals submitted to Senator Wagner and Senator Taft a few weeks ago, and backed by a wide variety of private-enterprise groups affiliated with the Home Building Industry Committee, contained a proposal for extensive Federal aid for urban land redevelopment. The provisions of this bill relating to public housing are merely an extension and improvement of a basic program long since approved by the Congress. Certainly, we ought to take some forward steps on the rural housing front. And there is hardly any group interested in housing which has not at some time expressed a desire to see the various housing activities of the Government gathered under one roof.

For these reasons, rational considerations would lead one to anticipate a weight of general agreement about this bill. It is foreseeable, however, that there may be some who may be tempted to oppose

any legislation which recognizes that public housing has any part at all to play in providing decent homes for the American people-no matter how clearly and convincingly the sponsors and supporters of such legislation prove that their major emphasis is upon the stimulation and encouragement of private enterprise. There may be a few individuals who would turn their backs on proposals which they themselves have consistently advocated for years-just because public housing is not left entirely out of the bill. They would rather perhaps sink the whole ship than look at the whole need. From my own experience, I am sure that many of the most competent and far-sighted leaders of private enterprise hold no such self-defeating views.

The enactment of this bill would, in my judgment, help to assure a record of achievement for private enterprise in the housing field, far outdistancing anything accomplished in the past. It would enable home-building and home-financing institutions to take leadership in steering this Nation on the course of prosperity, employment, and advancing standards of living.

The membership of this committee is embarking upon a great undertaking in the consideration of this measure, and the people all over the country are awaiting the results with eager expectancy because their interests are so closely involved.

Thank you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. I am sure our committee wants to thank you for the very informative and very fine presentation-the very effective presentation, persuasive presentation. I am sure if Congress could read the address that you have made, why, it would be almost conclusive. And I think we will, too.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Thank you, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I am very thankful to you, and of course we need your advice and counsel right along, and I hope you will be around as much as you can. Tomorrow morning.

Mr. BLANDFORD. It is from the same staff, Mr. Chairman, that has helped me with this statement.

The CHAIRMAN. Fine. Well, they are good.

Tomorrow at 10 a. m. we shall have the Honorable Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City and president of the United States Conference of Mayors, and after him Raymond M. Foley, Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration-two very, very important witnesses.

Senator BUCK. Mr. Blandford, I am interested to know what agency is charged with the research work.

Mr. BLANDFORD. The National Housing Agency, as such, and presumably would focus in the Administrator's office, but he would be utilizing the three constituents for some of the work.

The CHAIRMAN. Incidentally, I made a mistake; I said 10 a. m.: I meant 10:30 a. m. tomorrow morning.

Well, thanks very, very much.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Thank you, sir.

(Whereupon, at 4:05 p. m., an adjournment was taken until tomorrow, Wednesday, November 28, 1945, at 10:30 a. m.)

(Pertinent documents submitted by Mr. Blandford appear in the appendix.)

GENERAL HOUSING ACT OF 1945

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1945

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY,

Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10:30 a. m., pursuant to adjournment on November 27, 1945, in room 301, Senate Office Building, Senator Robert F. Wagner, chairman, presiding.

Present: Senators Wagner (chairman), McFarland, Taylor, Mitchell, Carville, Tobey, Taft, Butler, Capper, Buck, and Hickenlooper. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. We have the great distinction of having Mayor LaGuardia of New York here, who is also president of the United States Conference of Mayors. We have heard from him many times, always with very great pleasure. Mr. Mayor, we are discussing legislation on a subject I know you are vitally interested in and always have been, so we would like to get your views, if we may.

STATEMENT OF HON. FIORELLO H. LaGUARDIA, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS

Senator TOBEY. Mr. Mayor, before you begin, may I state, you are going out of office sometime within a month, I presume, isn't it? You leave office when?

Mr. LAGUARDIA. The end of December.

Senator TOBEY. The end of December. Certainly I hope, and I think it is probably true, because of your deep interest in people and things, that you won't forget a custom and lose the habit of coming down here once in a while as a private citizen and telling us what's what.

Mr. LAGUARDIA. I hope I won't wear out my welcome.

Senator TOBEY. You will not.

The CHAIRMAN. You certainly will not.

Mr. LAGUARDIA. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I would like permission of the committee to insert, at the outset, the messages from the mayors of the various cities endorsing the bill and stating very concisely the housing situation in the various cities.

The CHAIRMAN. That may be put into the record.

(Report of United States Conference of Mayors is as follows:)

REPORTS FROM INDIVIDUAL CITIES ON HOUSING

Chicago, Ill.

(Submitted by the United States Conference of Mayors)

Heartily approve of the action proposed by the legislative committee of the United States Conference of Mayors to help solve the critical housing problem.