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MINUTES HOUSING RESOURCES COMMITTEE July 17, 1969 The regulEr monthly meeting of the Housing Resources Committee \ ,i ~ :, h eld at 10:30 A.M., Thursday, July 17, 1969, in the main a~ditorium 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 onl y of these minutes. Chairman Alexander opened the meeting by greeting and thanking all the members f or attending the meeting. The Chairma n then asked if the members would rather meet at different places such as Public Rousing Projects, etc., than to meet at the same place every month. He explained that if 8Ge tings were held at other pla ces, the meetings could be ~d~cational. There was general concur re nc e for holding some ~ eati ngs at other places than the City Hall. The Chairnan then called on some of the Chairmen of the ~ iff erent Panels f or reports on the activities of their Panels. ~se called first on Mrs . Dorothy Gibson, Chairman of the Social As pects Panel . Mrs. Gibs on stated that she made a telephone survey of five 0l fferent organizations to fi nd out their reaction as to the need fc~ emergency housing. She called the Butler Street YMCA, Urban 'Jeague , Atlanta P olice Department and the Communi ty Council. Mr2 . Gibson als o stated that she then called the Salvation Army ~c g et their reaction. The Snlvatio~ Army stated that they do not

~3 1 tha t there is much need f or emergency housing; and that most

Gf the Salvation Army Shelters aro inadequately staffed and cannot p rovide any more shelters for emergency cases. Mrs. Gibson stnted that the Comraunity Coun cil rec ommended to its Executive Commi tt ee for emergency assistance on all needs. She then stated that the Salva tion Axmy h as an apar tment type hotel, (four units) to rent at 44 Delta Place, N.E., near Euclid Av ._; . and Edgewood Avenue, but that the Salvation Army will not rent it out unless the y have more staff and that they will not rent to just anybody . Tom Gibson, son of Mrs. Dorothy Gibson, was then called on by Mrs. Gibson to make a r eport in conjunction with Mrs. Gibson report . �Page 2 Mr~ Gibson ma de a r eport o f a survey he had conducted of part of t h e personnel of the J. P . Stevens and Company. Be reported that there wore 2 6 9 houses and out of the total number there were 16 9 vacant and 100 still occupied. He stated that he visited 62 houses for questioning and that 33 of these wer e vacant. Eleven wer e occupied but heads of households wore not available; that ho questioned 18 h e ads of households. As a result o f the qucst i oninG, 4 5% did at that time have definite plans for new housing before the deadline of September 1, 196 9; 37% had looked for new housing without success; 18% had not sought ne w housing; and that 0% were moving to public housing (only one man had ev e n appli e d and s a id he received no answer). As for findi ~fi j obs, 100% of the people in this area stated that J.P. Stevens had helped them to find new jobs and 11% said t hat Stevens had helped in finding n e w housing. The r e ~a s an ave r age numbe r o f 2 children p e r house. Th e average re nt f o r the hous e s i n t h e J . P. Ste vens prope r ty wa s $2 5.00, which had b e e n t ake n di r e c t l y froo the i nd i vidu a ls' pa ychecks. The Chair man t hen p o i nt ed out t ha t t h e Ve t e r a ns Adm i n i st ra tion 48 Hospi t al is vacant a nd the houses ar ound t he hospital tha t were the s t aff quarters ere a lso vacant . He st a t e d tha t a mee t in~ was held July 1 6 wi th Mr . Willia m nl l i son, Ex e c u t i ve Adm inis t rn tor of EO~ , a nd Col. Ma lcolm D. Jones regarding this location, The re i s open land fo r pl a y area tha t would make this place idea l for eoergenc y hou s i n g . Ge n eral Services Ad minist ra tion (GSA) a nd EOA are wo rkin~ toget h er to fi nd some way to f und this projec t so that it may be u sed as t e mp o rary emerge nc y h ousing ~ Mr. Jones then commented on~ te l e pho ne c onv ersa tion he had receive d t ha t da y fr om Mr . Gold e n, Pl a nt Manager o f t he J. P . Stevens and Company . Mr . Golden st a t e d t ha t t he maj o ri ty o f people were simply staying and taking advant age o f the free rent and utili t ies until the first of September. Mr . Golden did sta t e that some of the Elderly a nd families with ma ny children are having a hard time finding a partments that will take them . Mr. Gold en sugges ted that a Housing Assist a nce Office be set up to help these families in findin g other places to live. He also stated t hat he would send notices ar ound to thesepeople indicating place and location of this office. He would have a re pr esent a tive of the J. P . Stevens and Company t o work with the City, EOA (presumably Mr. He ss ' s Office) and a representa tiv e of the Hou sing Authority; tha t h e would like for this office to be se t up on the 28th of July or no later than the first Monday in August. �Page 3 The Chairman then called on Mr . Robert Watki ns, Executi v e Di rec to r o f the Gre ater ~tla nt a Housing Development Corporation, a nonpr ofit housing sponsor, to see if his Corpora tion can do anything about this situation. Mr . Wa tkins stated that the Junior Cha mbe r of Commerc e is ~orking wi t h him on th i s project and that they arc t rying to buy these homes, relocate t hem and rehabilitate them. The Chairman then as ked Mr. Watkins if there is any practical wa y the houses could be moved to another sit e ? Mr . Watkins stated he believed so. Mr . fl ugustus Sterne, Co-Chairman of the Housing Locations Pa ne l , stated that tho Commit tee should talk to Mr . Ed Harrison. Mr . lllexander then called on i'tlr . Les Parsells , Executive Director of the Ho u s ing hutbority and asked him if he could provide a representative fr om the Housing ~ut hority to ~ ork with the J . P . Stevens project . Mr . Pc rs e lls stated that he could pr ovid e 2 o r 3 people but · it would be o n a part - time basis because of a shortn ge in personnel. He then stated that he could provide a full-time emp loyee f or ab out $30 .00 a day. The Chairman then called on Mr . Ed Be nson to make a report f or the Construction and De sign Panel . Mr . Be nson stated tha t Mr . Jim Wright and Mr. A. T . Connell made a presentation to his Pane l f or a propos al for an Urban Design S tudy within the Model Cit ies area , The Construction and Dew ign Pane l wa s asked to endorse their request to the Model Cities Executive Board f or f und i ng of the proposed study. The Panel did n ot feel that the proposal as presented was specific e nough t o warrant endorsemen t, ~r . Bens on stated that h e and M~ . Frank Clarke , Ge o rgia Te ch, were requested to check further with Mr. Wright and Mr . Connell concerning the prop os al . He st at ed tha t now they ar e satisfied that this is a ~or thwhile propos al and i t is therefor e the recommendation of the Cons t ruction and De sign Panel that the Housing Resources Executive Commit tee either endorse the proposal themselvos or p ermit the Constructi on a nd Design Panel to endorse th is proposal to the Model Ci ties Executive Board. A motion was made, seconded and ad opt ed that the Housing Resources ComCTittee as a whole endorse the proposal by Mr , Wright and Mr. Connell. The Chairman then called on M. ~rchcr Smi th, Chairman of the L0 gal Panel, to make a report for his Panel. �• Page 4 Mr . Ar cher Smith reporte d that the Legal Panel is wor king o n a proposal whi ch the y intend to ma k e as a r e c ommendation to the o nt ire Ho 1s ing Re so urce s Commi ttec for ·:: st ab l i shment of a new City :Housin~ D,., partment to keep all d e t8 iled info:rmati o n on housing and to have s uffi ci en t empl o yee s t o be a ble to keep all re c ords current and to do all research a nd st at istical ~ ork that ne e ds to bG done . The Cha ir mDn then called on M~ . . ,ichard Har v e y , Chairman o f the Public ilGlations Pa nel . M~ . H8rvey stated that the Public Il ~ lations Panel would like for ea ch P ~ nel to u a k c rc co~mendations to the C oamittcc on the goals of the CoCTmittee as a whole and any other ideas on which the Public liela tio ns :?anel could set up some t ypG of P u blicity CnE1paign to get 8cross to the citi z ens , busine ss , 8 0 e nc i cs , e tc . the necessity for hn v ing Public HcusinG and Lo~-incoo G Housi ng . Wr . Har v ey al so stated th e ~ublic Re lations Pa nel is charged wit h setting up ocetin~ with the candid8tcs for Llayor , to have each one of t h e candida t es to coc a befo re t h e C onoittee a s a who le at one o f our ocetines . It was s ,l g g cstcd that th e nect i ngs be set up with the cErndicl n t e s the \1iGo k of ~ 3eptei:!ber 1st . f notion \lias oade , seconded and a d opt e d t hat the P u bli c }.i~· lations Prrnel wou l d set up meet i n g with the candidntcs for thu wee k of Gc pt eober 1st . Cha iroa n l'-l cxa n d e r the n called on Col . J u nes t o conr.1ent on the P u blic H~ ar i ng o n r evisio n of t he Bu ilding Code . Col . Jones stated t hat at the first P ublic H~ ar ing by the Build ins Conoittce J u ly 15 , as result of request by th r e e organi z ati o ns, one of which was the HRC, that action on the Cod e was d e fer re d until after another Pubiic a : aring scheduled for 10 : 0 0 f . M. Ju l y 29 . I / Col. Jones stat e d that th e r e 8 r o only 40 c opies of the propos e d re v isio n of th o Bu i ld ing Code i n exist e nce . Col . J o nes st a t e d that h e had s o ut 8 letter to the Chairo~n who were inv ol v ed in this proj ec t . One copy of tho c o de was sent to Mr . E lliott for tho Co nstru c t i on and D~s ign Pa ne l; o ne was tu r n e d o v e r to M . F reeoa n Hu tto n fo r the L, e al P ~no l a n d on e is i n the Of f i c e of the Ho usi n g n: s ou rc c s ~ ono i tt c o for r o J i e w b y a ny of th e neobers. Col . Jone s sa id h o Vio11 ld l i ke co nst ruc ti v e c o o oents to be s e nt to b in n o lat er th an 5 : 0 0 P . M. on ~on ' ay , J u l y 2 1 , ~nd h~ would e nd e a v or to c onso lid at e and to e;c t th c• s c corn:icn ts to the Building Of fi c i a l in tio e f o r the 10: 00 f .M. Pub li ~ H . ari n g by the Building Cod e :·dv isor y Board set fo r Ju l y 2 2 . This Co n o itt ec will need 12 c opi e s of t he c on rn~n ts (nine f or t hG Pdv isor y B0 ard a nd 3 for th e s ta f f ). �- Col . Jones then c ommented on the r e q u ireo ent s for admission to P ub l ic s,~using, re cen tl y 8i ven to him by the Housi n g Authority . Col . Jones stated that t ho f irst basic requireoent for eligibility i s that a fao ily must be r e si de nts of At l anta ~hen oak i ng application . Faoilies just o ovin8 to the City are el i gible, but they c ooe way do~n the list of priori ties ~ By the way of pri o rity , urban re ne wa l faoilies ar e house d first , then in following order - code cnfo r c e~e n t , fa~ilics ~ i thout h ousi n g , faoil ies about to be without h o using a nd f noili e s in substandard housing . ( I Col .· J o ne s said t he following are n e t admission to Public Hous i ng : No . of P0rsons i nc ooe lioit s for Xn c oo o Lioits 1 $3 , 200 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 , 900 4 , 1 00 4 , 300 4 ,500 4 , 800 4 , 900 5 , 0 00 5,100 10 or ooro 5 , 200 Col . Jone s als o stat e d t hat as of July 1 , 1969 , a pp lic ant s for public h o u s ing oay a pply a t any public housing developoe nt or the Central Offi c e in t he Hur t Build ing . The Chair~an then introduced Mr . Frank Shee tz, Sheetz a nd Bradfie l d , Prchitccts , to show a sourid a nd slido pr ese nt a t ion on What is Pub lic Housing? Mr. Sheetz ga vo a pr0se n tation on Public Housing and the ba sic requirements for Pub lic Housing. ~lso s t a t ed in the pr e s enta tion was the nuober of Housing Au thorities as o f March 31 , 1969 , in the Southern part of the United Sta tes, whic h consist of : Georgia Florida South Carolina North Carolina Ke ntucky Tc nne ss oo tlabaoa Mississippi 192 63 19 72 99 78 137 40 �• Page 6 This pres entation was concerned oainly with soa l l c o nnunities rather than lnrger cities , but illustrated the need for low-incorae housing in small towns, thereby easing t he pr e ssures on largo cities such as fttlanta . The Chairman then sta t ed that anyone who would like , could take a tour of the John 0 . Chil e s high rise building for the Elderly . Tho tour consisted of visiting the crafts r o om , the library and a tour of an apartment . The meeting was ad jour ned at 12:20 P . M. Re spectfully suboi tted , 1

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