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'/ Report of th e Housing Task Force CHANGING '1'HE SUBSIDIZED HOUSING-SYSTEM AND 11 B.Al\JKING LAND 11 TO MEET NATIONAL-HOUSING NEEDS. The nation 1 s metropolitan areis consist, generally speakingi of land~poor central citi es containing poor families li vin g in substandard, overcrowded housing and l and -rich suburbs which exclude hou s ing for th ese fami li es. The n at ion's need for at l east six million houses for l ow- and mod~rate-income families in the nex t dec ade will not b e met unl ess majoi steps are taken to break this impasse -- to build substantial amounts of housing wh ere the vacant l and is available . Suburban enclaves could pe r h aps be tolerated when they were few in number, when u rban population p ress u res were l ess, and whe n urb a n l a nd was more plenti f ul . But the rapid incr iase in restrictive zoning regulations in recent years and the grow ing scarcity of urb a n land now greatly r educe the opportunities of low- and mod erate - income city dwellers to leave the city for decent shelter and better public and comme rci a l faciliti e s ne a r expanding job opportuniti es in the s u burbs. Restrictive z oning, high l and -prices , and the inability of federal programs to operate effectively in suburban areas are major constraints to increa s ing the supply of low- and moderateincome housing to mee t our nationa l ne eds . As h e lpful as the 1968 Hous ing and Urban Developme nt Act ma y prove to b e , it makes no imp6rtant changes in a syste m that we know cannot meet our nationa l n eeds . The power to place limits on zoning and building code powers of local ities r es ts with the states. Yet there is little press u re within the stat es to make th e n e c essary changes . Federa l block g rants to the States , should the y b e e n acted, could b e premised on basic r eforms b y state governme nts in reg ard to zoning, building codes and other archaic features of local goveinment. However, ou r l1ousing situation gro~s increasi ngly severe, and action to mee t our housing n eeds c~nnot wait ~pon all these desirable r eforms. · Ac cordingl y , th e Task Force on Housing, Recon s t r u ction and Investmen t me t on ~uly 2s; 1 969, a nd resolved that The Urban Coalition move imme diately to ur ge u pon the nation and the Federal Governme nt immediate.steps to meet this problem. �- 2 - With t he approva l of t h e Executive Crnmni ttee , the Housing Tas k Force wi ll draft a program indicating that the Federa l Government must exercise a far greater degree of le ade rshi p than it h as in the past by: 1 ) Restructu r ing the upsi de-down h o u s in g subsid i es sys t em whe reb y many l ocal i ties may i gnore th e nation a l housing ne ed.fo r low-i ncome f~milies , on the one hand , while those which want to act are entangled in se lf- defeatin g r egul a 7 tion s , on the othe r. Thi s system combines the worst disadvantages o f decentralization with th e worst disadvan tages of c ent r alization. 2 ) Reo rg an izing the low-rent public housin g progr am to re move the stigma attached to it , and to en a b l e it to perform in a state-wide a nd region a l conte :x,;t in acc ord a nce with re gional and sta te-wide housing goa ls. 3 ) Empower in g the F edera l Government to cu t th ro u gh the re strai nts of restrictive zoni n g and building codes and i nad e quat e sites by meet ing housing n eeds directly when the states or l ocalities decline to do so. 4) Adopting a ma ssive 11 l and banking 11 program fin anced on a r evolving-fund basis to enable localities to acquire l and in advanc e of need for public purpos e s, in c luding low -income hou sing, in th e face of spiraling land costs. \ �