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MINUTES HOUSING RESOURCES COMMITTEE July 17, 1969 The regular monthly meeting of the Housing Resources Committee ~a s held at 10:30 A.M., Thursday, July 17, 1969, in the main auditorium of the John O. Chiles Home at 435 Ashby Street, S.W. Invitational notice, list of those invited, with attendance of members and guests indicated, and other related documents are attached to the file copy only of these minutes. Chairman Alexander opened the meeting by greeting and thanking all the members for attending the oeeting. The ChairQan then asked if the members would rather meet at different places such as Public Housing Projects, etc., than to meet at the same plnce every month. He explained th~t if meetings were held at other places, the meetings could be educational. There was general concurrence for holding some meetings at other places than the City Hall. The Chairman then called on some of the Chnirmen of the dif ferent Panels for reports on the activities of their Panels. He called first on Mrs. Dorothy Gibson, Chairman of the Social Aspects Panel. Mrs. Gibson stated that she made n telephone survey of five d i f ferent organizations to find out their reaction as to the need f or emergency housing. She called the Butler Street YMCA, Urban Lea gue, Atlanta P olice Department and the Community Council. Mrs . Gibson a lso st a t e d that sh e then called the Salvation Army t o get thei r r eact i on. The Snlvation Army stated that they do not feel th a t the re is much need fo r emergency housing; and that most o~ th e Sa lv a t i on Army Shelters are i nadequately staffed a nd c a nnot pr o vid e a ny mo r e shelters for eme rgency cases. Mrs . Gibs o n s tn t e d th a t t h e Commu n ity Cou nc il r ecomme nd e d to its Executive Committee f o r e mergency a ssistance on all ne e d s. She the n state d th at t he Sa lv a t i on Arm y ha s a n a p a rt ment type hotel, ( f o ur units ) to rent a t 44 Del ta P l ace , N. E ., near Euclid Av e . and Edgew ood Avenue , bu t t h a t t he Salva t i o n Army will not rent it o ut un l ess t he y have mo r e staf f and that they will not rent to just anyb o dy . Tom Gibson, son of Mrs. Dorothy Gibson, was then called on by Mrs. Gibson to make a report in conjuncti o n with Mrs. Gibson report. �Page 2 Mr~ Gibson made a report of a survey be had conducted of part of the personnel of the J. Pi Stevens and Company. He reported that there were 269 houses and out of the total number there were 169 vacant and 100 still occupied. He stated that he visited 62 houses for questioning and that 33 of these were vacant. Eleven were occupied but heads of households were not available; that he questioned 18 heads of household~~ As a result of the questionin~, 45% did at that time have definite plans for new housing before the deadline of September 1, 1969; - 37% had looked for new housing without success; 18% had not sought new housing; and that 0% were moving to public housing (only one man had even applied and said he received no answer). As for findi ~~ jobs, 100% of the people in this area stated that J. P~ Steveris had helped them to find new jobs and 11% said that Stevens had helped in finding new housing. Ther e was an average number o f 2 children per house. The average rent for the hous e s in the J. P. Stevens property was $25.00, which had been taken directly from the i ndividuals' paychecks. The Chairman then pointed out that the Veterans Administration 48 Hospital is vac a nt a nd the houses ar ound the hospital that were the staff quarters arc a lso vacant. He stated that a meetine was held July 16 with Mr. William n llison, Executive Administrntor of EOA, and Col. Malcolm D. Jones recrardi ng this location. There is open land f or play area that would make this place ideal for emergency housing. General Services Administration (GSA) and EOA are wo rkin~ together to find some way to fund this project so that it ma y be used as tempora ry emergency housing. Mr. Jones then commented on a t e l e phone conversation he had received that day from Mr. Golden, Plant Manager o f the J. P. Stevens and Company. Mr. Golden stat e d that the majority o f people were s imp ly staying and taking a dv antage of the free rent and utilities until the first of Sept ember. Mr. Golden did state that some of the Elderly and families with many children are having a hard time finding apartments that will take them . Mr, Golden suggested that a Housing Assistance Office b e set up to help these families in finding other places to live. He also stated that he would send notices arou nd to thesepe ople indicating place and location of this office. He would have a representative of the J.P. Stevens and Company to work with the City, EOA (presumably Mr. Hess's Office) and a representativ e of the Housing Authority; that he would like for this office to be set up on the 28th of July or no later than the first Monday in ~ugust. �P 21 ge 3 The ChaiTma n the n c all e d on Mr . Robe rt Watkins, Execut i Ye D~rec tor of the Grea t er ~ t la nt a Housing Deve lopment Corp o rati on, a nonprofit housing sponsor , to see i f his Cor pora t ion can do anyt h ing a bout this situation . Mr . Watkins stated that the Junior Charaber of Commerce is work ing wit h h i m on this project and t hat the y are t r ying to b u y these homes , r e l ocate t hem and rehabilitate them. The Chairman then aske d Mr . Watkins i f there i s any prac tical ~ay the houses could b e mov e d to anothe r site? Mr . Watkins stated he believed so. Mr . fl ugustus Sterne, Co - Ch a i rman of t h e Ho u s i n g Locations Pa nel , stat e d t h at the Co mmitt e e shoul d talk t o Mr . Ed Ha rr i son. Mr . /ilexn ndor the n call e:d on i'Jlr. Le s Pa rs e lls , Zxecutive Di rec tor of t h e Ho u s i n g hu t b o ri ty a n d a s k e d h i m i f h e could prov id e a r epresentative fr om the Hous ing f ut hority to ~ ork wi th the J . P . S t ev e ns pro ject . ~ r . Pa rs el l s s t a t ed tha t he cou l d p r ovid e 2 o r 3 p e opl e b ut it would b e o n a par t- t i me b as is bec8use o f ~ s h ortage in personne l. Ho then stat ed t hat he cou ld pr ovid e a full-time e mploye e for ab out $ 30 .00 a dny . f or The Chairma n then c a l led o n Mr . Ed Be n s on t o make a re por t t he Co nstructi on and De sign Pane l. Mr ~ Benso n stated tha t M~ . J 'm Wr i ght a nd Mr , A . T . Connel l made a pr e se nt a tio n t o his Pane l f o r a pr o p os a l fo r a n Ur ban Desi g n S tudy wi t hin the Model Ci t i e s ar ea . The Const r uct i o n a nd Dem i gn Pa n el was a s k e d to e nd o rse the i r r e q uest t o the Mod e l Cit ies Exe cut i v e Board f o r fu n d i n g o f tho prop os ed s t ud y . The Pnnel d i d n ot feel t hat the p rop os a l as p rese nt e d was spec ific e nough t o wa r ra nt endor s emen t . ~ r . B~ ns o n st a t ed tha t he and M~ . Fr ank Clarke , Ge o r gi a Tec h, we r e re q ues t e d t o check further wi t h Mr . Urigh t and Mr . Conne l l concerni n g t h e p rop os al . He st a ted t h a t n o w they aro satisfied t hat this i s a ~o r thwh ilc propos a l a nd i t is therefore the rccomnc ndation of the Cons t ructio n and DG s ign Panel that the Ho using Re sources Executive CoQmittee ei ther endor s e t he pr o p os a l thems elves or permit the C onstructi on a nd Des ign Panel t o endors e t his p r opos al to the rflodcl Ci t ies ".° ,X1.:; c u ti ve Bo ard . n motion was raada, sec o nded and nd o pted that the Housi n g Resources Comm i t te12 as a i.:iholc endorse the proposn 1 by i\ih· . rJrigh t and Mr . Connell . The Chairman then called on M . " rchcr Lmi t h, Chairman o f the L : gal Panel, to make a report for his Panel. �Page 4 Mr . Archer Smith reported that the Legal Panel is wor king on a proposal whi ch they intend to make as a recommendation to the o ntire Ho 1s ins Re sources Commi ttec for ·: st ablishment of a new City Housi ng JJ. :: pnrtment to 11:eep all detciiled informati o n on housing and to have s uff ici en t employees t o bo able to k eep nll recor ds c ur rent and to do all re s earch and statistical work that ne eds to be done . The Clwirmc:rn then cc:illed on rfl ;_· • . • i c ha:rcJ Har vey , Chairma n of the Public Ilslati ons Pane l . fil:..· . I·far vey stated t hat th e Public ].}e lations Panel would l ike f or ea ch Pn nel to ma ke r e commendations to the Coomittce on the goals of the Committee as a whole and any other ideas on which the Public liel atio ns Pane l could set up sone t ype of Public ity Canpaign to ~et ~cross to the cit ize ns, busine ss, nge ncies, e tc. the necess i t y for ha v ing Public Hous in8 and Low-incoue Housi ng . Mr . Harve y also stated the Public Ilc la t ions Pa nel is charged with setting up oce tin~ with the candidates for May or , to have ec:ich one of t he candida t es to corn.:: before t he Ccmni ttee DG 21 who le a t one o f our oce t ings . It wc:i s S :l (;f;cstod thnt the u cctings be s et up with t he cc:i ndidatcs t he week of :.3c pt ecbc r 1s t . f' notion v;as oade , seconde d and ad opt ed t hat the Public li· ,1ations Prrnel wou l d set up meet i ng with the candidntes for the week of Sc pteober 1st , Chair1-:1an f\ lcxander then cc11lcd on Col . J ones t o conoent on the Public .karing on revision of the Building Code . Col . Jones stated t hat a t the first Public H0ari ng by t he Bu ildin~ Conoittce July 15 , as result of request by th ree organiz a tions, one o f wh i ch was the HRC, that action on the Code was defer re d until after ano t her Public He aring schedul ed f or 10 : 00 f , M. July 29 . / Col. Jones stnted that there arc only 40 c opie s of the proposed re v ision of t h e Bu ild ing Code in existe nce . Co l. Jones stated that he had sent 2 letter to the Chairn~n who were inv olved in this proj e ct . One copy of the c ode ¼as sen t to Mr . Elliot t for tho Cn nstructi on and D.: sign Pnnc l; one was turned over to M . Freeoan Hut to n for the L~Gal Pa nel and one is in the Of fice of the Housing l1 : s ourccs :_~ormi ttcc for re ,iiew by 8 ny of the ner:1bers . Col. Jone s said ho would like co nstru c ti~c c oooents to be sent to hiLl n o later than 5 : 00 P . M. on Llon?ay , July 21 , ~nd b~ wou ld endeavor to consolid at€' and to ge t t h,.::s c conr.ic nts to tho Building Official in tioe for the 10 : 00 t . M. Publi c H . aring by the Building Code :dvisory Board set for July 22 . This Conoitt e c will need 12 copias of the c oom~nts ( nine for the Pdvisory Board and 3 for the staff) . �Page 5 Col . Jones then conmented on the requireoents for adQission to Public H0 using, r0 cen tly gi 1en to him by the Hous ing Auth o rity . Col. Jones stated that t he first basic r0quireoent for eligibility is that a fEoily must be residents of Atlanta when making application. Families just movin~ to the City are eligible, but they cooe way down the list of priorities. By the way of pri o rity , urban renewal faoilios ar e house d first , then in following o rder - code onforceoe nt, faoilies without housing , families about to be without housi ng and families in substandard housing . I I Col. J o nes said tho following are n e t admission to Pub lic Housing : No. of Per sons incooe liraits for Xncooe Linits 1 $3,200 2 3 4 5 3 , 900 4 ,100 4 ,300 4 ,,500 4 ,.800 6 7 4 , 900 5,000 5,100 5 ,2 00 8 9 10 or nore Col. Jones also stat e d that as of J uly 1, 1969 , applicants for public housing oay apply at any public housing development or th e Central Office in the Hurt Bu ilding. The Chair~an then introduced Mr, Frank Sheetz, Sheetz end Bradfie l d , frchitects, to s how a sound a nd slide present a tion on What is P ublic Housing? Mr. Sheetz ga ve a presentation on Public Housing and the basic requirements for Publi c Housing. ~ls o stnted in t he presentation was t6e numbe r of Housi ng Authorities as of March 31, 1969, in th e Southern part of the United States, which consist of: Georgia Florida South Carolina 1 92 63 19 North Cnrolina 72 Ke ntucky Te nnessee hlabama Mississippi 99 78 137 40 �Page 6 Thi s presentation was concerne d mainly with small conmunities r0 ther than larger cities , b ut ill ustrated the need for low-incoLle housing in small towns , thereby easing the pr e ssures on large cities s u ch as Atlanta . Th e Chairman then stated that an yo ne who would l ike , coul d t ake a tour o f the John 0 . Chiles high ris e buil ding for the Elderl y. The to ur consist ed of visiting the craftsr oom, the libr a ry and a tour of an apar tment . The meeting was adj our ned at 12 : 20 P . M. Respe ctf u lly submi tted, -, _; . /I . II . \~·,»,, ,' . ··.. iX·- ) : I,,.,... '-' v Ma lc o lm D. Joner3 Ho using Coordinator f.· .Vt.,,C,~._,,o-,<-, v ·;.,. r.1C Encls: t s stated ( with fi l e copy ) ' o . ._,.!J;,)---' �