Under the previous form of organization, about 70 percent of the PHA administrative staff was located in the field, with about 30 percent in the Washington office. Under the new plan, the proportions are reversed, with 70 percent of administrative personnel in the central office and only about 30 percent remaining in the field.

Even more significant, however, is the fact that whereas only 15 percent of the major delegations of authority to act were retained in Washington under the former organization, 75 percent of these actions must be consummated in the central office under the centralized organization.

Administrative budget

The funds required for administrative expenses of the Public Housing Administration are derived from the operation of the programs under its jurisdiction. This use of the program receipts is authorized by the statutes establishing the programs. Each year, PHA presents a single administrative budget to Congress covering the anticipated administrative expenses for all programs for the next fiscal year and requests authority to expend stated sums for administrative costs. These funds are taken from the proceeds of the programs on the basis of estimates of the relative workload presented by each of them.

In the Government Corporations Appropriation Act, 1949, Congress authorized expenditure of $9,500,000 for administrative expenses in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1948. This amount was about 17 percent less than the $11,500,000 available for this purpose in the preceding fiscal year.

Personnel trends

The total number of PHA administrative employees continued to decline during 1948. By the end of the year, this employment stood at 1,611, or 20 percent below the administrative employment of 2,023 on January 1.

The chart following indicates the employment trend for the past six years, divided between administrative employees in the field and those in the central office in Washington. The sharp rise shown in 1946 was due to the veterans' reuse housing program which began in that year. The decline in 1947 reflected two factors, the completion of much of the veterans' program and stringent economies undertaken for budgetary reasons.

In the last months of 1948, administrative employment in Washington exceeded that in the field for the first time. This was a result of the reorganization and centralization of functions in the central office.

JUNE 1943-DECEMBER 1948

500

TABLE 1.—Number of dwelling units owned or supervised by the Public Housing Administration1 by program, as of Dec. 31, 1948

1 Excludes units which have been sold to mutual housing associations, limited dividend corporations (PWA) and homestead associations on which PHA holds mortgages for collection.

2 This veterans' housing is considered for this purpose as being disposed of to local bodies or educational institutions even though the improvements provided by PHA may not be wholly complete or title to them formally transferred.

* Includes 1,423 rural units not yet built but which are parts of active rural projects.

1

TABLE 2.-Number of active projects and dwelling units owned or supervised by the Public Housing Administration by program and State, Dec. 31, 1948

1 See footnote 1, table 1.

2 Consists of Public War Housing (Lanham constructed) and homes conversion programs. Includes PWA projects.

TABLE 3.-Number of dwelling units made available for disposition and disposed of, by program, type of structure and accommodations, and method of disposition, Dec. 31, 1948

1 Includes 116,107 accommodations transferred to educational institutions under the McGregor Bill. TABLE 4.-U. S. Housing Act Program, statement of income and expense for fiscal year ended June 30, 1948