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Ju:o~:i~~)':: Trt ~-I.'\.YU !1.Ll::·}~ EC!t.i:i [i'-:G R2::-LlJHC~;_3 G01•t .J:·:;.1 T ,;,i'. OHGr1·nuTI Or.:AL H2ETING CUffi'!CIL Cil:'._:·:j"fi2.{, CITY Hi1.LL 10 : 00 A . i1i ., TUE.-.iDAY , FEBRiJ A.R.Y 14, 1967 Chairman J°:. l ex2nder , Co-Chairmen Dr. Hays and Dr . Ati-rood, Ladies and Gentl emen---Fir st of' all I 1._,ant to ez:press my personal apprec i ation and t he thanks of your City Government t o all of you for your willingness to serve on t hi s ~ost ~"p ortant commi t t ee . P.s I see it, this is truly a most i mp ortant committee, f or it is tackling.the solution of our City 1 s single most serious problem t he lac k of a.'1 a.a.equ ate suppl y of safe and decent housing f or a large portion of Atlanta ' s population. By accepting service on t his Ee.using Resources Commi tte e, you are carrying on one of t he traditions that all t hrcugh our f irst centur y of pro~r ess has made Atla..'1.ta a great city and will keep on . making it a grea-ter cit y, year after year. This traditic.,n is ac-r,ive , enthusias tic, i ntelligent, and energetic cit izen p~rticipation in governmental af:;:airs and public se r vice. The way Atlant3. citiz8ns assume the responsibilities of citizenship that .2re s o closely tied wit h the en j O)l}'!l.ent of the rights of citizenship sets \tla::-,ta apart f rom and above so many other cities. It is one of the bauic forces that kee;?s cur s-~tl anta moving f orward while s o many cities falter and fa ll back. So ag2in I want to thank you for being willing to participate i n t his high endeavor t o see to it that every Atlanta c itizen, no matter what his s cale of living, has a decent and safe roof over his head. Also, I want to express my appreci ation to ypur Chairman and t wo Co - Chairmen for all they have gotten done durine the t wo months that have ela1 ;se d since the i de a of this committee was put into action on No7ember 1.$. Thanks to their leader::;h:i.p ·,md to the activities of all who have worked with then , this com·nittee now h~s a solid f oundation of facts and pl a::.1s upon which to Eet into f ull swine . ·rne S.f.iecifics of the challenging 01,portunitie s which this committee faces will ·oe outlined by hr. Al exander. But before he and our distinguished visitor f rom Chicago a ndress you I invite your attention to the extent of the problem which .vie are t cJ.ckling together and which our j oint eff ort must and shall solvee I t hink this can be most sharply brouF,ht into fo cus by referring to a few statements which I made at t he November 15 Conference of lfousing. �!ls I s ,.id then : ·~'he proo l errr is sim_?ly t }~i s -~oes r..ot have the hou sinc to me et the rn:~eds of fair1i_li es and individuals to be re locate d by ""Ghe pre sent or future governmental actio_ , which will b is ne cessary for· the continue ci. p ro r res s of' !1.tlant a . 11 11 J... tlant2 ? o bring this gene r a l s tat ::m,mt dmm to specific facts and f i zures, it means th.:ct f rom now u.nti l t he end of 1 971, we s h all need 16 , 800 housing units to T,c:clc,'3 c are of t he pe o·) l e who will ha ve to be r e located beca use of ~:overnmerltal action. Thi s is the totn l o.f dwe l l ing 1mits Hhich we must 2.nd shall p r ovide t o t ake c a r e of Atl ac1ta c:.ti zens who will be f orced t o move because of c',ar,g8 s -i-r rought by such aove r 11mental c.c tivities as urb;,-:.n r enewal, ex_ressway c c-nstruction and code enforcement t o elininate housinr; that is 1ot fit f or human habitation. To r eloc ate t hous 2nds of people :i.n de cent hous i ng presents us with a chall8P.~i ng opport m i ty of truly tremendous prop ortions. But A-~l antv. is ac c usto "Tted to meeting challenges and seizing op portunities . So I ar.i cor.1_ole t e ly conf i dent thct by thinking, p lanning and working togethe r, a s we are st2rting off today , we c ,.n and s hall meet this challe ge anci trans :.or:n t his opp o tun ity i nto solid achi e vement. He ar e setting our sights high at the beginn ing. We are embarking upon a crash p ro e:ram for 1967 andl968 to provide 4,900 new housing units each year -- a tota l of 9, 600 units to be ready and occupied by the end of December, 1966 . For us t o reach this high two year goa l, private ent:lrprise must provide 30 per cent. Non-profit s pons ors of 221 D-3 housing mus t provide 13 per cent . The big push, 57 p er cent, must come from public hot1sin r~ . This is a big order to fill in just two years - but we can and we shall fill it. I would also like to mention agai::1 what I e;nphasized on Nove1.1ber 15th that we have a new and p owerful tool to hel p u s -- this is the Federal 11 ':'urrJ.:'ey Prograra" - whic h opens up a whole new a venue of procress in h ous~--ig . As 1ve set our eyes on the h i gh goal f or 1967 and 196b, I want to . emphasize that a lot already has been accomplished since No,vember 15 • . . The most striking tangible results are visible in the -big push public housing. 2 �One day l ast 1:1cn-;:,h I spent sever al h r.,:ur s wj_th top off ici als of t he Atl2 tc:: ~cus:i.np; Authority tr-kinr, a look at 1-1h2.t · is goi nr, on and what is bei ng planned to increase cur suppl y o.f publ i c riousine; . Inci dentally, we are start inc .L'rom a very good base, b<?:c ause Atlante now has far nore public housing unit :., i n opc·r ~,t ion t han any othe:r city in the southeast. I t vras t ruly a t hrilling sisht to see what we have accomplishe d in public housine-; during the past few ;:10nths • .The !ttlanta Housing !uthority is deter mi ned t o meet the ~oal of 5, 586 uni ts that is set f or 196 7 ,rnd 1~68. This t arget figure i ncludes the l , l L.O units now under deve lopment. These e:norace 650 under constr ucti on in ths McDaniel Street section of the Rawson -:·iashington Urban Rene1-r nl Pro ject , l l.i.O uni ts assigne d t o an area adj acent to Perry Home s and 350 units in the Thomasville Urban Renewal Proje ct. The .fcDaniel Str eet pror r ru,1 is being car r i ed out so that 348 units will be ready in 12 months, 402 in 17 months , t he rest in 22 mont hs. Included .-r ill be .:, high r ise bui l ing f or the el derl y, along the l ines of the three :iow in oper ation . The 11:0 unit s ad jacent t o Perry Homes shoul d be r eady in 1 8 months . The Thoinasville units will get u...11derway as soon as f inal plans ar e compl eted by the architects. rJow the Atlanta Hous ing Authority is t acklinc plans f or t he uni ts which Atlant a has under reservation f ro.. the Federal Government. At tention is bcinc centere d on sites for 1,200 units to be developed under the Turnkey Progran1. A good beginning has be en made on the proi:;ram to l ease 300 more units . That will take care of the units for which we have r eser--rat i on with the Federal Government. But that is not the end of our pl ans f or action in public housi.11g. We have request ed a reservation for 3,000 more units -- and I confidently hope we will soon receive approval on t his. So our public housing all-out effort is off to a very encouraging start . Also now in full swing is our preparation to make application for a F13deral :Planning grant under t he brand new Model City Progr am, in which up t o 90 per cent of the cost can be paid by the Federa,l Government. �I 1rJill not ;--o into dc t ;.; i J. a.'.::;oJJ.t t ·:· i s now _ r o r.-r:::m exc e pt t o s ay t ·t,at a... ar ea of some 3,000 ac r es ir: the s outhern .:,ecti on of our Cit}r, i-1.1ic:1 "i.ncludes s o..1e 10 per cent or the Gi ty 1 0 oopu1 r1tion , an cl a mu ch hi cher p ~-r c en-:: o.f i ts probl e;r, s ituation , has be en de s i gned a s a tar c;et area. Al s o on t he Ci ty ' s p art, we a r e str engt hen:~ng e nforc ement of bLlild:.nc and he ising c odes by b 11 i ldi nr:; up our i n s pe ct ion s t a f f , a s pro.,·,ise ci , s o f cIT the City has r. i. r ed l S out of l B a cidi tional a. ·t hori zed inspectors . So the p'J.bli c enterp r i se part 0£' o ur effort to p rovide t he hou s ing we :nust ha. ve is off to a , .,;ood bee;ir.ning . i:fow our i :nmediate chaJ.leDgi nt opportun i ty is to ce t t he p r i vate enterp rise part of the p rogr ~:m -- the pa:::·t t hat must p rovide J O pe r c ent an d the n on- profit sp onsors who must :provi de l J p e r c ent int o full swi n g . ·,e ha ·:e n ot been drar.:ginB our feet on this . I nte r est ha s b e en shown by many develope r s , despite t he di s c our ae;in~ t i ght money s ituation of the past several months . ·-r,anr pl ans .:i re being di scu sse d. But this a b i g job f or our uhole city. I t i s a ~ob i n uh i c h t his c or.1'7littee can and will f urnish t he l e aciersi1i p and t h e i nspi r ation t o all developers , l a r ge and sma ll , to j oin f orces in an all - out encie avor . Then , too, we must orouse ~ride spr ead j_nte rest t o provide t he nonprofit s p onsors for 221 housing . We must reac h out to f oundations , churches , fraternal orgai.,izations , educational ins titutions . lrJe mus t show them the oppor t unities and a dvant ac;es of sponsoring low income housing . That is the cna llene:ine; opportunity of l e a der ship which is p r es ente d t o t his co;nmittee. You will hear more about the s pecific s of h ow t hi s rias be en done in Chicago and ho-:1 i t · c an oe done in At lan t a f rom t he t wo main speakers who -;,1ill follow me . Acain, I want to thank each and every one of you f or being willing to de vote you time and t hougi:lt and energy t o the work of this most ~~port2nt cor:i.mit t ee . I salute each and every one of you f or so un s elfis hly 'as s umi n g t he high resp onsiblity of citizenshi p . 4 �I p:-omise . that the Ci ty gover maent wilJ work with t 'nis committee to its f ulle st c apacity. i:Je c an , we must, and we sha2.l achieve our goal of providing decent, safe housing fo:r every Atlantian. , 5 �