ASK any Vancouver-
A ite what he considers

to be this city’s
thorniest problem and nine
chances out of ten he’ll tell
you it’s “the housing prob-
lem.” Yet in the recent civic
elections, only one of the three
major groups participating —
the Civic Reform Committee—
made a housing plan an impor-
tant plank in its platform. It’s
an amazing thing that in a
city with thousands of home-
less families a mayor can be
elected to office on the sole
recommendation that once —
a long time ago—he succeeded
in getting a new city hall built.

Anyway, it is now obvious that
if the peopie are to be housed,
they themselves must take the
lead in a campaign for decent |
living accommodation. How can
they do it? What use can they
make of present housing legis-
lation,

The National Housing Act,
passed in 1944, extended assis-
tance to prospective homeown-
ers and offered loans to corpor-
ations interested in construction
of rental housing.

Under the first section of the
Act, persons wishing to build
their own homes may borrow
a large portion of the needed
capital from a government-ap-
proved agency. The government
assumes part of the risk and
makes possible a larger long-
term loan than private lending
agencies offer.

How has this plan worked
out? Not so well, say the ex-
_perts. Inflated building costs
have lowered the value of the
loans—based on 1939 building
costs—and those in greatest need
of housing, the lower-income fam-
ilies, are unable to raise the ne-
- eessary capital to qualify for
loans,

‘The’ second section of the Act
Offers Joans fer low-rental hous-
_ ing ‘by private enterprise, with
_ dividends from housing projects
limited to five percent. To the
average ‘businessman, the whole
affair seems to call for a type of
altruism for which private enter-
prise has ‘never been noted. Need-
less to:say, mot- one “public spir-
_ ited" corporation has taken: ad-
_ vantage ‘of this offer.

; Moreover, the Act falls short
by not ‘providing for the setting
up local housing authorities, and
apart. from small subsidies made
for slum clearance, no subsidies
are made for “encouragement of
low-rental housing.

Bene Veterans’ Land Act is de-

signed to assist ex-servicemen
in establishing themselves on
_ Smali farms. or small agricul-
, tural” holdings, on acreage
bought . and subdivided by the
‘Bovyernment, For the vet who
_ is a’farmer at heart the idea
isa fine one. But to saddle
an ex-serviceman who takes ad-
vantage of the plan only be-
cause he can't find a home else-
- where with a long-term finan-
_ cial arrangement is almost al-
ways disastrous. <

-.The. Veterans Sand: Act, which
can do,.a constructive job in
settling experienced farmers on
the, land, can not be put forth
@S_a solution to more than the
tiniest segment of the housing
_ problem, If administered  un-
_ wisely, and without broader leg-
_ islation to back it up, it can
ae result only in uncultivated farm
slums which become a, blight on
_ the. whoie district,

With the return of servicemen
from overseas, the activities of
Wartime Housing were expand-
_ €d to include building of a more
serviceable type of home for vet-
_ erans’ families. Rents range from
_ $22 to $30 monthly. While some
progress has been made, service-
men are complaining now that
the housing built this way is

‘taonrc TRIBUNE — PAGE 10

literally. falling. apart at the
beams. :

Under National housing legis-
lation, very little has been ac-
complished, All ‘local housing
laws are negative in application.
Laws to keep people out of slums
are useless without laws to pro-
vide houses for them to live in.

And, finally, efficient ap-
proaches to the problem are
hampered by the fact that al-
most every piece of legislation
is administered by a different
authority. The National Hous-
ing Act is the responsibility of
the minister of finance. Wartime
housing -is subordinate to the
minister’ of reconstruction and
supply. The Veterans Lang Act
is administered by the minister
of veteran affairs, The Emerg-
ency Shelter Administration was
controlled by the Wartime Prices
and Trade Board. Health regu-
lations come under the minis-
ter of health. And here in Van-
couver we come up against a
constant wrangling between the
Zoning Appeal Board, which ad-
misters zoning bylaws, and the
Town Planning Commission, pro-
tecors of our Town Plan.

e

NN what must be done?
Plenty! What are our hous-
ing needs here in Vancouver,
first of all? We need houses,
we need a plan, we need legis-
lation, we need money, we need
public pressure to bring the leg-
islation into action and our
plans to fruition.

There is now a_ well-calculat-
ed agitation for. removal of ren-

tal ceilings, It is suggested that
if ceilings are removed build-.

ers will end their sitdown on
housing. __

And what type of home will
they build?. Apartment houses
whose suites rent at $75 to
$100 a month? meiaetis hemes at

$8,000 to $15,000? Exactly the
type of buildings they are erect-
ing now as long as the market
makes this the most profitable
form of building. But this doesn’t

solve the problem for the thous-
ands of low-income families in
_ Vancouver, for whom the indiv-

idual house, either detached or

built into blocks of two to six.

units, each with its garden, is

most suitable,

Who should build these houses?
Experience points to a _ public
housing authority as the most
satisfacory building agent, The
minimum charges on the average
four of five-room house construct-
ed by private builders run around
$35 monthly. -

_ Yet more than one-half of Van-
couver’s wage-earners, statistics

prove, can gfford no more than

$25 monthly, and nearly one-
third of all renting families can
pay no more than $10.
. e- i

It’s evident that while, under
the present system, private en-
terprise could be used to supply
experience, labor, and, to some

‘extent, management of a build-

ing campaign, the overall hous-
ing plan and financial assis-

tance must come from povarn: ;

aes agencies,

@
LL right, then, we need low-
rental, _ government-subsidiz-
ed, single-family dwellings. Now,
what kind of a governmental

setup do we need to put 8 ac-
tion?

To begin with, all housing ac-
tivities should be concentrated
in the hands of a minister of
housing in Ottawa, to avoid con-
fusion, delay and buck-passing
—the three big obstacles in gov-
ernment-planned housing,

Next, semi-autonomous hous-
ing authorities should be set up,
under the aupices of the prov-
ince and organized on a metro-
politan basis. local authorities
would be financed by govern-
ment loans and subsidies, on con-
dition that the province or
municipality also share the fi-
nancial burden.

These suggestions run along
the same lines as those of our
Vancouver Housing Association,

NN ee

ag 00

NW
—_

CYNTHIA CARTER

the only local body which has
made any progress towards a-
solution of the problem.

How would this work out in
practice? Suppose that our Van-
couver Housing Authority makes

. @ survey of housing conditions |

and decides to embark on a
building program to provide 5,-
000 homes to rent;&t less than
$20 monthly. A subsidy of $10
a unit would be needed, it is
estimated, Of this, 75 percent
would be provided by the feder-
al government, 25 percent by the
city itself. ;

“But this would cost
couver plenty,” you say.

Look at the
moment.

Van-

figures for a y

Cost of 5,000 homes would be
$150,000 a year. But tax revenue
to the city would, be $400,000 a
year! This would mean an extra
$350,000 revenue for Vancouver.

It would mean, too, a fair
profit - for the building contrac-
tor, and good wages for the
men employed on the project.

Yes, good housing is definitely

- good business.

AFTER satin the required

subsidies and loans, the local
housing authority would put the
work into the hands of iocal
contractors, who would employ
local workers on the project.
There are five main advantages
to such a program, fs

1. Slum families would be giy- |
en a chance to become
healthy, socially useful citi- —
zehs, and dangers. of epi-
demics and crime waves
would be curtailed.

. With authority in local hands;
Vancouver could select the _
type of dwelling best suited —
to local conditions, esd
(Continued on Page 11)
See LOW-COST HOUSING _
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1947