Editorial Board: Fred W. Adams, Edith P.L. Gilbert, Patrick Henry Paul Kelly, Morton Leeds, Norman L. Linton, Theodore H. Savage, Harvey Weiner, HUD Challenge, The official Departmental magazine, is published monthly by the Office of Public Affairs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Use of funds for printing was approved by the Office of Management and Budget, September 18, 1972. HUD Challenge serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and innovations between HUD staff throughout the country, HUD-related agencies, institutions, businesses, and the concerned public. As a tool of management, the magazine provides a medium for discussing official HUD policies, programs, projects, and new directions. HUD Challenge seeks to stimulate nationwide thought and action toward solving the Nation's housing and urban problems. Material published may be reprinted provided credit is given to HUD Challenge. Subscription rates are $6.50 yearly domestic, and $8.25 for foreign addresses. Paid subscription inquiries should be directed to: Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Manuscripts concerning housing and urban development are welcome. Send all editorial matter to: Editor, HUD Challenge, Room 4282 Department of Housing and Urban Development, PAGE 2: Interstate Land Sales Administrator PAGE 7: There are types of regional and local that facilitate development and efficient management of low-income housing in PAGE 13: Two books about the land sales PAGE 21: In Hoboken, N.J., a successful peo- PAGE 30: In anticipation of special revenue NEXT MONTH: Mayors review and comment on the results COVER: The artist's conception of the fast-talking land boking ahead he Future House he Reynolds Metal Company is in the process of buildhg "the first home ever to be constructed from recycled haterials," reports the AIA Journal. "The aim," said the ournal, "is to demonstrate the feasibility of using reycled materials in residential construction..." nother prediction for "the house of the future" comes rom Richard L. Martin, housing economist at Stanford esearch Institute in Menlo Park, Cal. The house Mr. Martin envisions, in use within 20 years, would consist of central steel frame with standardized components astened to it, such as walls, floors, roofs, wiring, and lumbing. Starting with the same basic frame, builders ould devise homes of almost any size, architectural style, nd price by varying the components. "When somebody vants to build a house," says Mr. Martin, "he might go to factory to select his component-just like a housewife oday goes to the supermarket to buy food when she wants to cook a meal.... All the ingredients are there, nd depending on your budget and your tastes you could but together any kind of home you wanted." Land Banking" Some communities are adopting "land banking"-acquirng land for future use-as a means of planning and controlling development in the inner city. Long practiced In Sweden and other European countries, land banking, according to John W. Reps, professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University, is a means of controlling urban development and getting contiguous development. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for example, through its municipal and bank was able to provide in the inner city enough contiguous land for a factory that otherwise would have built its plant elsewhere. Although land in the suburbs was cheaper, the factory's management said there was advantage in having the factory where labor is already accessible and not havi "to drive to the other side of town to get to work." Design for the Handicapped To be available in late 1974, the American Society of Landscape Architects Foundation will develop a comprehensive guidebook of data on the design of outdoor facilities usable by the handicapped. The Foundation's task, contracted by HUD's Office of Research and Technology, will include a census of persons hampered by their disability in using outdoor facilities. They will be categorized by age groups, the nature of their handicaps, the extent to which it impedes their mobility, and their relationships with the physically healthy in the same environment. The design and planning solutions for facilities and layouts are then identified for each type of handicap. In addition to the census, the Foundation staff and consultants will identify existing outdoor facilities that present problems, those that have been designed for people with and without infirmities, and those that can be altered to suit the needs of the handicapped. The Foundation will also review HUD's Minimum Property Standards and recommend improvements to enlarge their scope to accommodate the handicapped. The project is part of an effort to create a more usable and comfortable outdoor environment for the handicapped who outside of their homes face a civilization geared almost exclusively to the needs of the physically sound. Changing Role of Women With a HUD research grant of $50,000 the American Society of Planning Officials will examine the relationship of community and neighborhood planning to the changing role of women in American Society. The study-unique in scope-will seek to determine whether current planning practices present an erroneous view of communities by failing to consider the rapidly changing role of women within those communities. ASPO will rely heavily on exploratory and interpretive papers commissioned by leading women authorities in the fields of planning, citizen participation, the social sciences, and women's rights. Second Homes Study November 1973 has been set for the completion of a study of the growing trend toward development of recreation and leisure homes, which HUD and the Council on Environmental Quality have commissioned the American Society of Planning Officials to make. The study will also cover Federal, State, and local provisions to insure that such development does not destroy the environment, and recommend improvement in the system of institutional regulations. It will develop methods by which localities can project the impact of proposed leisure homes developments. The Urban Land Institute and the Conservation Foundation are supporting the ASPO project and the HUD Office of Interstate Land Sales will help monitor it. The State's Role is Paramount in Interstate Land Sales By George K. Bernstein Regardless of the present role of the Federal Government in safeguarding interstate land sales, it is the tone of regulation at the State level that will ultimately determine the direction that developers and salesmen take in their day-to-day dealings with the consumer. Much public attention in recent months has been focused on abuses in the area of interstate land sales, primarily the result of a stepped-up campaign by the Office of Interstate Land Sales Registration (OILSR) in HUD. Such scrutiny is long overdue. When I was asked a year ago to take over the job of OILSR Administrator, the mandate was clear: OILSR, on an aggressive enforcement basis, should take all necessary and appropriate action to implement fully the disclosure and public protection program envisioned by Congress when it enacted the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act in 1968. We have sought to protect the consumer to the fullest extent possible under a Federal law primarily directed toward disclosure rather than substantive requirements. But early in my review of the Act and HUD's responsibilities under it, I became convinced that we could maximize public protection in either of two ways: First, through massive revision of the 1968 legislation, we could convert our function to that of fullscale regulation, requiring substantiation of all developer claims and promises and strict control of salesmen and advertising practices. Or, second, we could strictly and vigorously enforce the existing law, with the hope of educating the public to the point where it could protect itself, given the assistance of the Federal Act and a strong State regulatory role. I rejected the first option on the ground that it was both undesirable and unrealistic. Another massive bureaucracy in Washington would have been required to carry out a full regulatory function effectively, and the avoidance of such costs in dollars, manpower, and duplication of State responsibility was an obvious necessity. I decided instead to awaken the interest of the public and the media through a public information campaign and case-by-case enforcement of the Act, since only an informed, aware, and wary public can be adequately protected. Our stepped-up campaign, including numerous suspensions and several indictments and convictions in addition to our nationwide public hearings, has succeeded to a great extent in creating an awareness of potential land purchase problems on the part of the consumerproblems, tragically, previously appreciated by all too few. The honest and reputable developer has nothing to fear from this activity. Indeed, it is to his ultimate benefi that those who would mislead and defraud the public be weeded out of the industry. However, as we continue vigorously to enforce our statute, we are becoming more and more aware of its basic limitations. Public hearings and recent complaints are bringing to our attention recommendations for signifi cant changes in approach. Of course, we will not take o recommend drastic action without taking all aspects of the problem into consideration. But one thing is already abundantly clear. The Federal Act can never be fully effective, and the interests of consumers cannot be ade quately protected, unless the States play a stronger role in the regulation of interstate land sales. Dual standards and conflicting and confusing legal requirements at the State level will not do. If the patterns of State law that evolve serve only to overburden the honest developer without really protecting the consumer, the call for Federal pre-emption will come from both sides. We neither want nor need the massive Federal agency that would be required to regulate the land sales market exclusively from Washington. We need strong, intelligent, and coordinated action at the State level, and there are certain specific remedies that the States must citizens and in avoiding Federal pre-emption in the area take if they are interested in truly protecting their of interstate land sales. Proposals for Uniform State Regulation In this regard, I offer the following recommendations: 1. States should accept developer filings made with the Office of Interstate Land Sales Registration (OILSR) in satisfaction of basic State disclosure requirements, subject to specific additions that a given State might require. This would not only free State personnel for closer scrutiny of developer's day-to-day operations, but would also assure the development of uniform information for the consumer and make developer compliance more efficient, economical, and timely. |