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CHAPTER III

Modern Technology
and the Provision of
Low-Cost Housing

It is far from clear how much can be done, as a practical matter, to narrow the gap between what low-income families can pay for housing (whether as owners or tenants, subsidized or not) and what it costs to produce it by giving encouragement to production methods that exploit economies of scale and make maximum practical use of new materials and processes. But there is reason to believe that something significant can be done and the Task Force is confident that Operation Breakthrough will be an effective means for developing, and giving encouragement to, needed new approaches. In any case, modern technology in homebuilding must be encouraged if housing is to be produced in the volume needed.

Typically, discussions of this problem have concentrated on the variation of building codes through the localities of the nation and the diseconomies that derive from this condition. Without intending to minimize the importance of further progress toward standardization of codes and considerable progress has already been made the Task Force believes that the single most important need today is for a system of off-site certification that will (a) given every reasonable encouragement to producers to use the most economical methods and materials, and (b) assure that off-site certification will be accepted locally at the construction site. Accordingly, the Task Force

13. URGES that the federal government use the full extent of its influence to assure on-site acceptance of off-site certification of housing units, modules, materials, components, etc. In particular, HUD should use eligibility to participate in federal housingassistance and community-assistance programs to this end. HUD should be urged to enlist the facilities and cooperation of private groups in further simplification of building code requirements and in the development of a nationwide certification program.

CHAPTER IV

Federal Housing Programs

Although far too little has been accomplished in efforts to meet the nation's housing needs, it cannot be said that this is due to inadequate legislative and administrative attention to the problem. On the contrary, hardly a year has passed since the milestone statute of 1934 that has not seen the enactment of federal housing legislation, often in an omnibus bill of far-reaching effect. The accumulated result of these three and one-half decades of attention are evident today in what nearly everyone concedes are more programs than necessary, in detailed statutory limitations that are often obstacles to program effectiveness, and in a growing impatience with administrative complexities. Also, many programs have been inadequately funded, often below authorization levels that have themselves been inadequate.

Approaching this problem with a wish to make constructive recommendations, and with particular concern to accelerate the production of housing for low-income families, one confronts the question whether to propose a basically new approach or merely to suggest ways of making present vehicles work more effectively. The need for quick results points to the latter course, and suggestions to that end are made below, but the Task Force is impressed by the need for more basic remedies and new approaches. It therefore

14. URGES that the Administration and the Congress-possibly with the advice of the ad hoc commission referred to later in this report-undertake at once to define, and to strike out on, a new approach to giving federal assistance to housing. The Task Force suggests that such an approach should incorporate the following key elements:

a. two basic federal programs to replace the variety now available, one for homeownership and one for rental housing, with as much commonality as possible between the two programs as to design, costs and eligibility criteria;

b. programs that fit dwellings to family needs, with subsidies scaled to family income, rather than housing programmed to fit income levels;

c. long term funding, say for three years, of appropriations as well as authorizations; and

d. maximum discretionary authority left with the housing administrator to allocate resources and achieve reasonable standards of design and construction according to his determinations regarding need, demand, family preference and practical engineering and economic possibilities, rather than by forced compliance with predetermined statutory ceilings and other limitations.

Further, the Task Force

15. RECOMMENDS that in pursuance of such a new approach the White House announce a policy not only favoring, but giving priority to, federal programs that lead to homeownership—including cooperatives and condominiums, as well as single-family dwellings and that special emphasis be given to such programs for lowincome families.

Also recognizing that not all families are ready to undertake the responsibilities of homeownership, the Task Force

16. URGES that homeownership programs should be coupled with social services providing advice, guidance and counseling aimed at bringing the family into the mainstream of the community. These services should deal with employment, schooling, domestic relations, budgeting and other matters which could imperil the family's financial or domestic fabric and possibly cause loss of the home. Community groups, voluntary organizations, and private companies are best equipped to supply advice in this area and should be encouraged to do so under the aegis of HUD sponsorship.

The Task Force realizes that major changes in the general pattern of federal housing programs would take time to accomplish and that certain results can be obtained more quickly by improving the effectiveness of existing programs. Accordingly, without suggesting any lack of confidence in the possibility of achieving a new approach to these problems, the Task Force reviewed the array of existing programs, in particular those designed to help meet the needs of families in the low-income range, and makes the following comments and recommendations regarding them:

1. PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE
EXISTING SUPPLY OF HOUSING

Because in the short run the existing supply of housing offers the greatest possibilities for providing dwelling space for low-income families, the

Task Force is deeply concerned about the decline in the quality of many public housing projects, as well as other housing resources. Vandalism, neglect, improper care and poor management are costing the American people many units each year that could otherwise provide comfortable housing for low-income families. Accordingly, the Task Force

17. COMMENDS, and recommends intensification of, efforts by HUD to increase tenant participation in the operation, management and improvement of public housing projects. Tenants should be involved in providing a variety of services, including maintenance, day-care centers for children of working mothers, counseling services regarding employment, homemaking and home-care, and all such related efforts. When this participation involves employment, it should add to the tenant's income and not jeopardize his occupancy at the project.

In many urban areas there is the possibility of adding significantly to the supply of standard housing units through rehabilitation. The Task Force recognizes the problems inherent in major rehabilitation projects, including the escalation of prices of existing units, relocation of tenants and the difficulty of obtaining community participation. Nevertheless, the potentials are so great that the Task Force

18. RECOMMENDS (a) increased emphasis even beyond the commendable efforts now being made by HUD-on rehabilitation, particularly in subsidized housing programs. Also, improved processing procedures that have succeeded in streamlining operations in certain areas should be applied uniformly in all HUD offices; (b) HUD's minimum requirements for rehabilitation should be kept within reasonable limits, to make it possible for rehabilitated housing units to be occupied by low-income families; (c) local government agencies should be urged to accept HUD's minimum requirements, and continuous liaison should be maintained between these agencies and HUD regional offices with the object of minimizing differences in standards.

2. EXTENT OF SUBSIDY

The Task Force recognizes the difficulty of bringing rentals and homeownership payments within reach of low-income families priced out of housing subsidized even to the extent of one percent interest. To make such families eligible for available units is essential if those in deepest need are to be assisted, and this can be done only by deepening the bsidy. The 40 percent of Section 236 units which may be made eligible

for rent supplements partially achieves this objective. Accordingly, to extend federal assistance to families in greatest need, the Task Force

19. URGES attention to methods of deepening subsidies by underwriting the entire interest payment and some portion of the amortization of principal. Subsidies deepened in this manner could readily be achieved in the homeownership program. In the rental program it may be more feasible-since mortgage loan processing and basic rentals depend on the interest rate to reach those in greatest need through added rent supplements.

3. STATUTORY LIMITATIONS

Artificial cost and mortgage-amount limitations presently incorporated in housing laws have impeded, and in some cases are blocking altogether, the production of low-income housing in areas of greatest need. The Task Force attaches the utmost importance to the elimination of these obstacles at the earliest possible moment. It believes that adequate safeguards can be established administratively to avoid overdesigned units being built at excessive cost. Accordingly, the Task Force

20. RECOMMENDS the elimination of statutory cost and mortgage-amount limits and the substitution for them of HUD review for appropriateness of the design, cost-estimation and debtservice criteria which fix mortgage limits.

4. UNIFORMITY OF PROPERTY STANDARDS

The Task Force believes that HUD could operate most effectively with a single set of property standards applicable to all programs, and that it would be preferable to work toward performance standards, with property standards serving as guidelines. Accordingly, the Task Force

21. RECOMMENDS that HUD work toward performance standards, with property standards furnished as guidelines, and that the same amenities be permitted in all subsidized housing, with rent supplement units no more restricted than others.

5. UNIFORMITY OF INCOME-ELIGIBILITY
STANDARDS

The Task Force believes that income should be the full test of eligibility for assistance and that treatment of income and deductions should

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