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Kerner Commission Findings After One Year Reviewed "One Year Later," a review of what has been done, and not done, to meet the urban crisis since the Kerner Commission report of March, 1968, has been issued. The sponsors are two private, nonprofit organizations, the Urban Coalition and Urban America Inc. After presenting up-to-date data on social and environmental problems in the nation's inner cities, the review concludes that "we are a year closer to being two societies, black and white, increasingly separate and scarcely less unequal." Copies of "One Year Later" may be ordered, for a small charge, from the Communications Division of the Urban Coalition, 1819 H St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. THE BUILT-IN BOMB Reprinted Jrnm "Tlte Herhlnc k Gallen ·," Si m on and Schus ter. / 96R . ACTION COUNCIL LETTER LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN OF THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL March 7, 1969 -- Vol. I, No. 2 Funds for Low Income Housing Head Action Council Agenda Supplemental appropriations for the low-income homeownership and rental programs of the 1968 Housing Act, and for administration of the fair housing law, are a priority goal of the Action Council . The two laws were enacted by Congress last summer but received only partial funding -far less than was needed for a good start . The new programs for lowincome families are k nown , in housing law jar gon , as Section 2 35 and Section 236 . Pri v a t e f ina ncing , b u t t r essed b y fede r a l inte r es t s ubsid i es , i s the k ey to both t h e homeowne rs hip prog r am , Sect i o n 2 3 5, a nd t he r e n ta l p r ogr am , Sect i o n 2 3 6. Low and mode r ate - inc ome f a milies will be able to b uy hou ses f o r up to $15 , 000 , spe n d 2 0 % o f the ir mo nthly i n come o n mor tgag e p ayme nts, a n d t h e FHA wil l pay t he remaining mo r t gage co s ts . Similarly o n Sec ti o n 23 6 rent a l units, the Govern me nt will pay to the nonp r ofit s po ns o rs the difference between the inte rest cost of a conventi o nal mortgage and an interest rate of 1%. The first homeownership in- �terest contracts were made in October. On the average, they were for houses costing $12,152. The average interest subsidy was $33 . 88 a month, for owners with monthly income of $430. The Housing Act authorized FHA to sign contracts for $75 million under Section 235 this year. Congress, however, allowed only $25 million. The same figures also were set for the Section 236 rental program. A House Appropriations Subcommittee is now considering budget proposals submitted by former President Johnson requesting an additional $50 million contract authority for each of the two programs . His request for the nex t fiscal year, starting July 1, was $100 million for each program. The fair housing law received an appropriation of only $2 million from Congress. The Johnson budget proposes a supplemental $2 million for administration of the law plus $14.5 million for the ne x t year. Sen . Ra lph Yarborough Becomes Chairman of Labor Committee The Senate Labo r and Publi c Welfare Committee, which han dles manpower, a n ti p o vert y, educati on a nd health l e gisl a t i o n, i s u nde r n e w leaders h i p t h is year. Ret i reme n ts and election defeats have produc e d n e w c h ai r men f o r t he f ul l committee a n d for its eigh t sub comm ittees . De moc ra t s r e main in t he ma j o r ity o n t h e c o mmi ttee but the Re p ubl ica ns have o n e addit i ona l seat thi s ye a r. Se n. Ralph Yarborough of Texa s i s t he n e w c ommi t tee chairman. He al s o ha s taken over as head of t h e Subcommittee on Health . Other key s ubcommittee chairmen include: Claiborne Pell (D -R.I.), Education; Gaylord Nelson (D Wis .), Subcommittee on Employment , Manpo wer and Poverty ; Harrison A. Williams (D N.J . ) , Labo r; Senator Ralph Ya rborough and Walter F . Mondale (D Minn.), Migratory Labor. Sen. Jacob K. Jav its (R N.Y.) remains the top-rank ing Re p u bl ic an on the committee . Th e n e w GOP members, all f r es h men , are Willi a m B. Sax be (Ohio) , Richard S . Sc h wei k er (Pa . ) a n d He n r y Be l lmo n (Okla . ) . The new De moc ra t s a re fr es hmen Thomas F. Eag le t o n (Mo .), Alan Cranston (Cali f. ) and Har o ld E . Hughes (Iowa) . CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS Re l ocat io n and Land Acquisition - - Senate subcommittee heari ng s have been completed on the Unif o rm Relocation Assistance and Land Acquisition bill (S 1). The Ac t ion Council suppo rts t h e bi ll , which would provide rel ocation payments and other assistance to persons displaced by any federal program or any federally aided state or local program. The last Congress approved this kind of aid on federal highway and housing projects and the new bill would extend this to other pro grams on a uniform basis. Post offices and other federal buildings and federally aided projects such as hospitals and college Continued on Page 4 �Congre ssmen Take City Tours To Learn of Urban Programs Small groups of Congressmen are mak ing two-day trips to major c ities to learn at first hand of u rban problems and programs. The tours are sponsored by the U.S. Con ference of Mayors for the benef it of Congressmen from rural a r e a s and small cit ies. Members o f the Urban Coalition Action Council staff are participating in t h e tours . Visitin g Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 31 a nd F eb . 1 were fi v e Represent a tive s -- We ndell Wyatt (R) of Astor ia, Ore., J ames F. Hastings (R) of Al l egan y , N.Y. , W. s. Stuc k e y (D) of Eastman , Ga . , J a mes R. Ma n n (D) of Greenville, s.c . , and Pau l Mcclos k ey (R) of San Mate o , Ca l if . The five wer e g i ven an i n t roduction t o Atlanta' s prob lems by Mayor Ivan Allen, who i s on t h e Action Council ' s b oard. Allen t old the group t h at t h e city ' s p rogress in urban deve lop me nt was due in la rge part to f unds appro priated by Co n gre s s . After hear ing other city of- ficials discuss their programs the Congressmen toured the Model Cities and urban renewal areas and visited antipoverty agencies . Afterwards, Rep. Wyatt commented that there is no , domestic problem "more urgent than that of the American city . " A similar trip was made to Dayton, Ohio, Feb. 21-22. The city's Congressman, Charles W. Whalen (R), was host to the group, which included Rep. Mann and three others -- Rep. Bill Alexander (D) of Osceola, Ark., Robert C. McEwen (R) of Ogdensburg, N.Y., and William L. Hungate (D) of Troy, Mo. Among the programs the Congressmen studied was the coordin a ted manpower programs oper ated by the federally funded local CEP office. CEP stands for Concentrated Employment Plan. It tries to concentrate a v ailable job resource s within areas o f hig h une mployment and pove rty. I n both cit ie s the Congr e s smen got a glimpse of crime problems by riding in police cars for a nigh t-time tour of pote nti a l trouble spots. Lat er trips a r e p lanne d f or New York and Bo s t on . In Atlanta City Ha ll, Rep. McCl oskey takes notes as Rep. Hastings, on the far left, listens. Clockwise, fac ing t he camera, are Rep. Wyatt, Vice Mayor Sam Massei!, Reps. Man n a nd Stuckey, Action Council executive di rector Lowel l Beck and Janet Ko hn of the Conference of Mayors. �Continued from Page 2 buildings are examples of programs that often displace inner city residents and businesses who badly need help in relocating. Provisions similar to those in S 1 were passed by the Senate, but not by the House, in the last Congress. The House Public Works Committee held hearings late last year on similar relocation bills but took no action on them. As yet, the House committee has not scheduled further hearings for this session. Senate passage probably will come first. Urban Coal ition Action Counci l Adds 2 1 New Members to Board An expanded Policy Council, the policy body for the Urban Coalition Action Council, met for the first time February 26. Twenty-one new members joined the Council, bringing the total membership to 59. John W. Gardner is the chairman. Of the new members, si x are women -- the fi r st to serve on the Council. They are Mrs . Bruce B. Benson, president of the League of Wome n Voters of the U. S . ; Mr s . Amalia V. Betanzos , e x ecutive dir ector of the Puerto Rican Commun i t y Dev elopment Project in Ne w Yo rk City; Mr s . Fr e d R . Harr is , chai r man o f the Women 's Counc i l on Pov e r t y, OEO; Mrs . Patr icia R . Harri s , Howard Unive r sity Schoo l o f Law; Miss Do r o thy I. Hei ght, pr e sident of the Na ti o nal Council o f Negro Women; a n d Mr s . Ai lee n C . Hernandez of San Francisco , fo rme r member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The 15 other new members are Julian Bond, Georgia state legislator; Paul W. Briggs, superintendent of schools for Cleveland, Ohio; Daniel J. Evans, Governor of the State of Washington; Herman E. Gallegos, executive director of the Southwest Council of LaRaza; Ernest Green, director of the Joint Apprenticeship Program in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Richard G. Hatcher, Mayor of Gary, Indiana; Dr. _Vivian W. Henderson, president of Clark College, Atlanta, Georgia. Also, Richard J. Hughes, Governor of the State of New Jersey; Roy Innis, national director of CORE; Dr. Howard Johnson, president of MIT; Edgar J. Kaiser, chairman of the board of Kaiser Industries; Robert S. Powell Jr., president of the National Student Association; Carl B. Stokes, Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio; Rev . Andrew J . Young Jr., e xecutive director of SCLC; and Dr. Mark Shedd , superintendent of schools for Philadelphia . Before adding the new membe r s the policy group consisted of 13 businessmen, 6 union officials , and 19 may ors, civil rights and religious leaders . The Urban Coalition Action Counci l 1819 H St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 Tel : 202 293-1530 Chairman: John W. Gordner Co-Chairmen: Andrew Heiske ll A. Philip Randolph Execu tive Director: Lowell R. Beck Legislative Assoc iates : John P. Logomorcino Ronald J. Jomes Assistan t fo r Legislative Information : Georgia nna F. Ra t hbun On the left, new Policy Council members Mrs. Benson of the League of Women Voters and Mrs . Betanzos of the Puerto Rican Com mun ity Development Projec t, wit h Mayor Cavanagh of Det ro it. On the right, Rev . And rew Young of the Sout hern Christion Leade rship Conference, also a new Council me mbe r. ~ 31 �