8-27-1947 HHFA issued revised regulations (HHFA Public Regulation No. 1) for disposition of Federally-owned permanent war housing, with veterans having first priority. 9-24-1947 First meeting of National Housing Council. 10-29-1947 Bureau of Census released part I of Housing Characteristics of the 10-31-1947 Frank R. Creedon resigned as Housing Expediter. Tighe E. Woods appointed Acting Expediter. 10 -1947 11-12-1947 93,800 units started in October, peak housing month of the year. FHA suspended receipt of applications for mortgage insurance under title VI. 12-12-1947 Dillon S. Myer resigned as Commissioner, Public Housing Administration. John T. Egan appointed Acting Commissioner. 12-17-1947 Senate confirmed appointments of Raymond M. Foley as Administrator, HHFA, and Franklin D. Richards as Commissioner, FHA. William K. Divers appointed Chairman, Home Loan Bank Board, to replace John H. Fahey, resigned. J. Alston Adams appointed a member, HLBB. 12-20-1947 12-27-1947 Public Law 394 approved, increasing maximum FHA title VI authorization from 4.2 billion dollars to 4.95 billion dollars. 12-31-1947 Major remaining VEHP provisions of Patman Act (Public Law 388, 79th Cong., amended) expired. 12-31-1947 849,000 new permanent housing units started, 835,100 completed during 1947. 12-31-1947 Construction costs and building materials prices reached all time peaks by end of 1947. Appendix C PUBLICATIONS OF THE HHFA A. Office of the Administrator Publications Housing Statistics Handbook.—This publication is a compilation of various types of housing statistics, compiled by both public and private agencies. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office,. Washington 25, D. C., $1. A Checklist for the Review of Local Subdivision Controls. This bulletin provides a checklist to facilitate a review by local authorities of their subdivision regulations and subdivision control practices. Available on request to HHFA. Planning the Expansible House. This is a pamphlet of expansible house designs showing schematic plans and simple perspectives. Six schemes are given for complete one-bedroom houses to which previously planned additions can be made as the family grows. This publication illustrates one practical means of reducing the initial outlay for the dwelling and still obtaining all the essential living facilities at the outset. August 1947. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 20¢. Individual Sewage Disposal Systems.-This is a revision of an earlier publication of the United States Public Health Service, bringing up to date the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Rural Sanitation. This bulletin gives the basic Government standard for individual sewage disposal systems and is used throughout the United States. Reprint No. 2461, revised 1947. of the Housing Expediter and National Housing Agency. Printed by the Office For sale by the Super intendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 10¢. Building Code Requirements for New Dwelling Construction.—This is a revision and extension of Building Materials and Structures Report BMS 88 and was prepared in close collaboration and consultation with the National Bureau of Standards. It constitutes an up-to-date consensus of reasonable building code requirements applicable to use by local authorities which will provide sound construction without excessive cost. January 1947. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 20¢. Performance Standards.—This pamphlet is one of the first efforts to establish reasonable performance requirements for the principal structural elements of a house based on their functions for use as a basis for uniform evaluation of new materials and construction techniques. June 1947. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 25. D. C., 10¢. Lightweight Aggregates for Concrete A Survey.-Results of a survey of commercially available lightweight aggregates are given in this bulletin which was prepared with the collaboration of the Technical Staff and issued by the Office of the Housing Expediter. It is a popular directory of information on sources of production for lightweight aggregates. February 1947. Available on request to HHFA. Techniques of House Nailing.-Nailing techniques are presented in this illustrated booklet aimed at promoting correct nailing practices and sound construction. This document has been widely used in apprentice training programs under the guidance of the Department of Labor. Prepared by Forest Products Laboratory, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Technical Staff, HHFA. November 1947. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 15¢. Technical Bulletin.-This is a periodic publication, issued approximately every two months, containing articles on research in materials and techniques of building, together with original studies on other aspects of the design and construction of dwellings. It is distributed upon request to interested technical groups, industries and individuals. Technical Papers The following technical papers are specialized studies, produced in mimeographed or multilithed form, and are distributed only on request. Announcement of availability is carried in the Technical Bulletin. Condensation in Walls and Roofs. Progress reports have been prepared on condensation studies made of various types of panels in the Climatometer of the Pennsylvania State College Engineering Research Station at State College, Pa. Technical Paper No. 1. First Progress Report, March 1947. Publications in Preparation Technical Paper No. 2. A manual on wood construction for prefabricated housing was being prepared by the Forest Products Laboratory, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the technical staff of HHFA and is expected to be issued early in 1948. Another publication being prepared in collaboration with the Forest Products Laboratory is about the honeycomb type sandwich panel proposed as a new building material. Continuing the program of providing a scientific basis for revision of local codes applying to housing in order to reduce costs of housing and permit labor and materials to be used more efficiently, a proposed uniform plumbing code was being drafted based upon research initiated in 1946 at the instance of the NHA. The research was conducted at the U. S. Bureau of Standards under direction of a committee representing the NHA (now the HHFA) the national associations of master plumbers and of journeymen plumbers, the United States Public Health Service, and the National Bureau of Standards. Motion-picture recordings illustrating the research findings were also being made. Two pamphlets in connection with the housing of racial minorities were being prepared for early publication in 1948. The first, The Housing of Negro Veterans, was designed to present an analysis of Negro veterans' housing plans and living arrangements in 32 urban areas based on sample surveys conducted during 1946 and 1947 by the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the National Housing Agency, now the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The second, Housing of the Nonwhite Population, 1940 to 1947, was designed to present the current housing situation of the nonwhite population for nonfarm areas in terms of recent changes in population, income, tenure, rents, conditions, and facilities of housing open to nonwhites as revealed by an analysis of comparative data from the 1940 Census and the April 1947 Census survey. B. Federal Housing Administration Publications Underwriting Manual.-Underwriting Analysis under title II, section 203, of the National Housing Act; FHA Form 2049, revised January 1, 1947. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., $2. Mortgagees' Handbook.-A section 203 guide for FHA approved mortgagees; FHA Form 2534, September 1946. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., $3.25. Supplement April 1947 furnished to holders of Handbook. Minimum Property Requirements for Properties of 1 or 2 Living Units.-In the District of Columbia and various States. Obtainable without charge at respective FHA State and district offices. Suggested Construction Details. Reproduced from the Minimum Property Requirements of the FHA; April 1947. Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Requirements for Individual Water-Supply and Sewage-Disposal Systems.-In Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wyoming. Obtainable without charge at respective FHA State and district offices. Neighborhood Standards.-Section on street improvements; Land Planning Bulletin No. 3, January 1947. Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Neighborhoods Built for Rental Housing.-Examples of rental housing developments built and financed by private enterprise with mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration; Land Planning Bulletin No. 4, August 1947, FHA Form 2538. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 15¢. Planning Rental Housing Projects.-FHA Form 2460. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 15¢. Significant Variations in Minimum Planning Requirements of FHA Insuring Offices.—Prepared for the convenience of manufacturers of houses operating under the provisions of the National Housing Act, Section 609; August 1947. Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Uniform System of Accounts for Multifamily and Group Housing Projects Insured Under the National Housing Act.-Revised May 1947. Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Amortization and Mortgage Insurance Premium Tables for Mortgages to be Insured Under Sections 203 and 603 of the National Housing Act.-FHA Form 2042-B, revised March 1, 1947. Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Insured Mortgage Principal Reduction Tables for Loans at 5, 42 and 4 Percent Interest.-July 2, 1947, Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Yield Tables for Mortgages Insured Under Sections 203 and 603 of the National Housing Act.-FHA Form 2331, revised April 1947. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., 15. C. Public Housing Administration Publications What and Why Public Low-Rent Housing.-This pamphlet was issued to answer questions about public low-rent housing, what its purpose is, how it is operated, and how it differs from publicly built war housing. Available on request to PHA. What is Low-Income Family Today.-This leaflet was issued to guide local housing authorities in adjusting their management policies to postwar conditions and suggests criteria for the determination of appropriate family income limits for admission to and continued occupancy of public low-rent housing. Available on request to PHA. Appendix D ORDERS, MESSAGES, AND FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LEGISLATION AFFECTING HOUSING IN 1947 A. Executive Orders and Messages Executive Order 9820-Separation of Office of the Housing Expediter from the National Housing Agency. Under Executive Order 9820 issued on January 11, 1947, all of the powers and functions of the Housing Expediter under the Veterans' Emergency Housing Act of 1946, which had been merged with the powers and functions of the National Housing Administrator and performed through the Office of the Administrator were ordered to be segregated and to be performed by the Housing Expediter as an independent officer of the Government. The Executive Order also gave instructions for the segregation of personnel, assets, and properties. Reorganization Plan Number 3 of 1947 On May 27, 1947, the President transmitted to the Congress "Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1947" which grouped the major permanent housing agencies and functions of the Federal Government, together with various of the remaining emergency housing activities, in the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The Plan went into effect on July 27, 1947, after approval by the Senate. In his message transmitting the Plan the President explained that the consolidation of housing agencies and functions in the National Housing Agency, as they were at that time, was only temporary and with the termination of Title I of the First War Powers Act the agency would dissolve and the agencies and functions then administered in the agency would revert to their former locations in the Government, thus scattering housing programs among a variety of agencies. Messages to Congress from the President of the United States In his State-of-the-Union message delivered to the Congress on January 6, 1947, the President outlined five major economic policies which he believed the Government should pursue during 1947, the third of which involved housing. The President promised to continue Government aids to housing construction with special measures to stimulate rental housing. Comprehensive housing legislation was urgently required, the President told the Congress, in order to reach the country's long-range goal of adequate housing for all its people. In his Budget Message (January 10, 1947) and in his Economic Report (January 8, 1947) to the Congress, the President again stressed the importance of housing to the Nation's economy and reiterated the need for housing legislation similar to the Wagner-Ellender-Taft bill (S. 1592) passed by the Senate of the Seventyninth Congress. In his Midyear Economic Report to the Congress on July 21, 1947, the President named housing and other construction as one of four areas in which the process of economic adjustment toward a stabilized pattern of maximum production was meeting difficulties. A fundamental adjustment in housing costs was needed to bring the housing industry to its goal of 1 million residential units in 1947 and a million and a half in subsequent years, the President asserted. The President discussed the measures being taken under existing authority to bring about this adjustment but again stressed the need for a comprehensive housing program such as that embodied in the Taft-Ellender-Wagner bill then pending on the Senate calendar. B. The Congress and Federal Legislation Title VI Program Extended The emergency mortgage insurance program of the Federal Housing Administration (commonly referred to as the title VI program under the National Housing Act) was extended by the "Housing and Rent Act of 1947" (Public Law 129) to March 31, 1948. Public Law 366 increased the amount of mortgage insurance permitted under title VI by $200,000,000 and authorized the President, if he deemed such action necessary, to further increase the authorization by an additional $200,000,000 which action was taken. On November 12, 1947, the FHA suspended the receipt of applications for title VI mortgage insurance because the insurance limitation of $4,200,000,000 had been reached. Congress again increased the authorization-by $450,000,000 with an additional increase of $750,000,000 at the discretion of the President. Public Law 394, approved December 27, 1947, which carried this increase in authorization stated that title VI should be employed to assist in maintaining a high volume of new residential construction without supporting unnecessary or artificial costs and that the FHA should use every feasible means to assure that the costs of the dwellings covered by the insured mortgages would approximate as closely as possible the actual costs of efficient building operations. Insured Loans for the Manufacture of Industrialized Housing The "Housing and Rent Act of 1947" authorized the FHA to insure up to 90 percent loans to finance the manufacture of housing, including advances on the loans. Mortgage Insurance for Sales of Permanent War Housing . In order that veterans might be provided means to obtain the financing necessary to acquire at moderate prices permanent housing which had been built by the Government during the national defense and war periods, Public Law 366 made available title VJ insurance of mortgages involved in the sale of such war housing. |