A BILL TO AMEND THE NATIONAL HOUSING ACT DECEMBER 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, 1937 Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking and Currency I 30833 UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1937 Statement of- CONTENTS Page 249 Curley, Hon. Edward W., a Representative in Congress from the Twenty-second District of New York. Davison, Robert L., representing John B. Pierce Foundation....... 235 Friedlander, I., president, Gibraltar Savings and Building Association 256 Green, William, president, American Federation of Labor, Washington, 236 MacDougall, Edward A., chairman, finance committee of the National McDonald, Stewart, Federal Housing Administrator, Washington, 12, 212 Stark, Paul E., president, National Association of Real Estate Boards, Wallace, Hon. Henry A., Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Wolosoff, A. B., president, Queens-Nassau Home Builders League, Wood, Gen. Robert E., president, Sears, Roebuck & Co- Exhibits: Letter submitted by the chairman from J. Halperin & Co., Inc., TO AMEND THE NATIONAL HOUSING ACT WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1937 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m. in the hearing room of the committee, Senate Office Building, Senator Robert F. Wagner (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Wagner (chairman), Glass, Barkley, Bulkley, Byrnes, McAdoo, Adams, Maloney, Brown of Michigan, Hitchcock, Townsend, Frazier, and Lodge. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order, please. We are meeting for the purpose of holding hearings on Senate bill 3055, the housing bill. The bill will be inserted in the record at this place. (The bill referred to is as follows:) [S. 3055, 75th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To amend the National Housing Act, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That titles I, II, III, and V of the National Housing Act, as amended, be further amended as follows: SEC. 2. Section 201 of title II is amended by striking out the words "As used in this title" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "As used in section 203 of this title"; and by amending subsection (a) of such section to read as follows: "(a) The term 'mortgage' means a first mortgage on real estate, in fee simple, or on a leasehold (1) under a lease for not less than ninety-nine years which is renewable or (2) under a lease having a period of not less than fifty years to run from the date the mortgage was executed, and the term 'first mortgage' means such classes of first liens as are commonly given to secure advances on, or the unpaid purchase price of, real estate, under the laws of the State, district, or Territory in which the real estate is located, together with the credit instruments, if any, secured thereby." SEC. 3. Section 201 of title II is further amended by adding thereto the following subsection (c) as follows: "(c) The term 'maturity date' means the date on which the mortgage would mature if paid in accordance with periodic payments provided for therein." SEC. 4. Section 202 of title II is amended by inserting immediately following the word "title" as it appears first in said section the words "with respect to mortgages insured under section 203". SEC. 5. Section 203 (a) of title II is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 203. (a) The Administrator is authorized, upon application by the mortgagee, to insure as hereinafter provided any mortgage offered to him which is eligible for insurance as hereinafter provided, and, upon such terms as the Administrator may prescribe, to make commitments for the insuring of such mortgages prior to the date of their execution or disbursement thereon: Provided, That, except with the approval of the President, the aggregate outstanding principal obligation of all mortgages insured under this title shall at no time exceed $2,000,000,000: And provided further, That on and after July 1, 1939, no mortgages shall be eligible for insurance under this title except mortgages that |