PHA Low RENT PUBLIC HOUSING PROGRAM Authority: U.S. Housing Act of 1937, as amended. Program financing: The Housing Act of 1961 freed the balance of the $336 million per year for annual contributions originally authorized in the Housing Act of 1949 and estimated to provide approximately 100,000 additional dwelling units. At December 31, 1963, 66,455 dwellings had been placed under annual contributions contracts, and the current budget assumes that the remainder will be placed under contract by June 30, 1964. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1964 now pending before Congress contains $184 million of additional authorization for annual contributions, estimated to provide 35,000 new units per year for each of 4 years to continue the present program, and an average of 25,000 units per year through purchase and rehabilitation and through lease of existing structures. Borrowing authorization for loans is $1.5 billion. Units designated for the elderly (included in totals above): Reservations_. Preconstruction__. Construction____ In management.... 23, 347 1 28, 077 51, 424 90, 166 39,396 551, 280 680, 842 22, 917 32, 947 12, 809 Total 1 Includes 1.353 units approved for annual contributions contract. 15, 087 83.760 NUMBER OF HOUSING UNITS 70,000 STATUS OF LOW-RENT HOUSING UNITS 1960-1963 UNDER ANNUAL CONTRIBUTIONS CONTRACT NUMBER OF HOUSING UNITS HOUSING UNITS PROCESSED FOR SELECTED STATUS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTING PUBLIC HOUSING PROGRAM AND NEEDS BEING SERVED Status of the program More than 2,000 localities of all sizes, in all parts of the country, have participated in the low-rent program. By the end of last December, low-rent housing projects under the various applicable laws had reached or passed beyond the stage of program reservation in 2,045 localities. In 1,856 of them, the projects had progressed to the stage of an annual contributions contract. As shown by the table below, over 80 percent of the 2,045 localities were outside of urbanized areas, and most of them were small. Outside urbanized areas there were 1,643 and inside urbanized areas there were 402 localities. The 1960 population was less than 2,500 for 685 of the localities; was 2,500 to 4,999 for 343; and was 5,000 to 9,999 for 307 of them. Only 225 of the localities were as large as 50,000 and only 114 of them as large as 100,000. Needs being served.-Over 2 million persons are being housed, of which 14 million are children. Forty-nine percent are nonwhite, 24 percent are elderly. Seventy-two percent of the families have minors. Forty-seven percent are receiving public assistance or benefits. During calendar year 1962, 442,000 of the tenants in public housing were reexamined to determine their eligibility and rent. The results of the reexamination as contrasted with data on incomes of all families in the United States showed the following: Senior citizens.-The participation of low-income elderly families in the lowrent housing program has increased significantly as is shown in the following tabulation: |