evident from the table, that some effort is being made to lower the construction costs of single houses. In 1939, for instance, the average cost per unit was $5,780 as compared to $5,530 for the first 8 months in 1941. (These cost estimates are building department figures increased by 15 percent to arrive at a better market figure.) Using the generally accepted rule that a family can afford to

live in a dwelling of value twice as great as family income, it will be seen that only 4.5 percent of the houses erected in the first half of 1941 were within the reach of families with less than $1,725 annual income; 27.9 percent were within the reach of families with incomes between $1,725 and $2,300; and 67.6 percent of all homes erected were built for families with incomes in excess of $2,300. It is quite evident, then, that current construction is not in any great degree intended for the lowincome market.

Less than $2,300. $2,301 to $3,450.

$3,451 to $4,600.

$4,601 to $5,750.
$5,751 to $6,900.
$6,901 to $8,050.
$8,051 to $11,500.
Over $11,500..

Total.

Total number of single residences erected in city of Detroit

1 Building department permit cost estimates increased by 15 percent to arrive at better market value. Source: Department of Buildings and Safety Engineering.

It is also quite obvious that the majority of defense workers who will be attracted to the Detroit area will not be in the market for the purchase of a new dwelling. By the very nature of the defense emergency, the future is uncertain for them. To believe that any great number will be willing to assume the burdens of home ownership is highly problematical.

That private enterprise has made little progress in rehousing the occupants of substandard housing is unfortunate, yet not surprising when an analysis of the factors involved is considered. It is a great social burden that the very people who are most in need of decent housing have little opportunity to obtain it, for the simple reason that they cannot afford it. This situation is graphically presented by the accompanying diagram where it is shown that the number of vacant units available at rentals that tenant families forced to live in substandard housing can afford to pay is inversely proportional to the number of such families.

PROGRAM OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN DETROIT

To provide decent shelter for families of low income, the Detroit Housing Commission is developing a program of public housing within the city limits of Detroit, which will provide for 7,317 families when completed. Since this total program represents barely 10 percent of the dilapidated and insanitary housing in Detroit, only a small beginning will have been made when it is completed. However, with the exception of this program, practically no rental housing is being provided in the Detroit area for workers of low income.

After the completion of Detroit's program many tenant families (44,700) will remain living in substandard dwellings. It is recognized that many of these families are ineligible for public housing because, theoretically, their incomes are presumed to be sufficient to enable them to provide decent shelter for themselves, and, therefore, in excess of the maximum limitations for approval for public housing projects. On the other hand, many of the owner-occupied substandard dwellings, of which there are 16,000 in Detroit, are inhabited by owner families who remain in dilapidated dwellings only because they cannot afford to provide better housing for themselves. Moreover, there are many low-income families living in satisfactory dwellings who are forced to pay more rent than they can afford for the privilege of remaining in these dwellings and escaping the slums. It is our opinion that these last two groups are the potential recipients of the economic benefits of a comprehensive, low rent public housing program, and that their combined numbers more than offset the number of tenant families living in substandard dwellings whose incomes are above the maximum limits.

Since the early part of 1938, the Detroit Housing Commission, under the powers given it by Federal and local governments, has signed contracts with the United States Housing Authority to build a total of seven projects. One of these projects is completed and occupied by tenants; two are partially completed and occupied; one is under construction; and the rest are in the process of land acquisition and planning. In addition, the Brewster and Parkside projects, erected by the Public Works Administration were completed in September 1938, and have been occupied since that time.

METHOD

PREPARED BY DETROIT HOUSING COMMISSION APRIL 29, 1940

A tabulation of the status of the Detroit program as of August 28, 1941, is as follows:

Complete low-rent public housing program in Detroit

No discussion of housing conditions in Detroit would be complete without a review of the problems facing the Negro population. In the last 20 years the Negro population of the city has more than tripled.

Ever since 1910 the rate of growth in Negro population has been greater than the rate of growth of white population. During the decade 1910-20, the World War period, the percentage increase was greater than that for any northern city. According to the latest United States census figures for 1940, Negroes comprise 8.8 percent of the city's population.

A constantly increasing Negro population has resulted in forcing these people to live in badly dilapidated housing. The denial of opportunities for natural expansion in unsubdivided areas, racial prejudices preventing an expansion into areas of satisfactory housing, and general economic conditions, all work against the Negro who wishes to better his living conditions. The inevitable result is that Negro families are forced to remain living in dilapidated areas so unsafe and insanitary that they have for some time been intolerable for human habitatior. When, in some few instances, Negro tenants permeate the fringes of white neighborhoods, the monthly rentals of the dwellings vacated by whites are immediately increased. This is the sort of situation that faces the Negro defense worker when he migrates into Detroit.

The real property inventory of 1938 revealed some startling factors about the living conditions in which Negroes find themselves compelled to live. Of the dwellings occupied by Negroes, more were found to be unsafe, insanitary, or overcrowded than in a satisfactory condition; 50.2 percent of all dwellings occupied

by Negroes were found to be substandard; only 14 percent of the dwellings occupied by whites were found to be substandard. Quite a contrast.

The Detroit Housing Commission is particularly aware of the desperate need for better housing among Negro families. Up to May 1, 1941, approximately 9,200 applications and registrations for apartments in housing projects had been received from Negro families. It is estimated that about 6,300 of these are eligible for admission. However, only 1,785 of these families will have been housed in projects now completed, under construction and planned for the near future. Thus an estimated balance of about 4,515 eligible families remain for whom there is no future or present provision in our program. A recapitulation follows:

Application status for Negro projects, Detroit Housing Commission
Approximate number of applications and registrations filed up to
May 1, 1941...

9, 200

6, 300

701

240

102

742

1,785

Estimated balance of eligible families which need housing--------- 4, 515 In addition to the Detroit Housing Commission's program, the United States Housing Authority will very soon begin construction of a 200-unit defense-housing project for Negro defense workers. This is the only defense-housing project that has been allotted to the city of Detroit by the Defense Housing Coordinator's office at this writing.

A 500-unit project for white families was proposed some time ago to be erected within the city limits. However, shortly after its announcement, Federal officials decided to erect this project in the city of Centerline in Macomb County rather than in Detroit. A construction contract for this project has recently been awarded. The only other defense project planned for the Detroit area at this time is a 300-unit project to be erected in Wayne, Mich. Thus the entire Detroit defense area, faced with the prospect of housing thousands of defense migrant workers, is allotted a mere pittance in defense-housing rental units-1,000 dwelling units.

In conclusion, it is well to point out that, if automobile production curtailment is enforced so drastically that the influx of defense workers to Detroit will be negligible, the present acute housing shortage may not be accentuated. However, to summarize, there are certain factors prevalent today that cannot be denied. They are:

1. An existing acute shortage of available vacant dwellings, especially in the lower rental brackets, in spite of considerable residential building activity.

2. A large number of unsafe, insanitary and overcrowded dwellings occupied mainly by low-income families.

The two factors enumerated above are applicable to both whites and Negroes, but they are particularly applicable to Negro families.

What Detroit needs, if it is to meet an invasion of defense workers, is many new homes-mainly homes built for rental purposes. Unless we solve this problem, Detroit's inability to house its defense workers may seriously hamper the defense effort of the mass production capital of the Nation.

60396-41-pt. 18-13