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To: Mayor, Candidate City for In-City Low Cost Housing Experiment
From:: John F. Collins, Project Director
Re: Information Goals of the Initial City Visit
As mentioned in my letter, the following is a list of subjects of
particular concern to us, subjects about which we would like to acquire
information on our visit to your city this week. Several copies of this
memorandum have been enclosed with my letter; so that you may circulate
them to the key members of your administration. We hope that you will be
able to arrange for our team to meet with these members of your government
so that they will be able to discuss the following topics.
Status of Model Cities Program
1.1 What progress has been made since the designation of your city in
the program?
1.2 Have any model cities projects advanced to the design or construction stage?
1.3 Have any projects had specific HUD approval for program concept,
and economics?
1.4 Have there been any basic changes in your model cities program since
approval by HUD? ‘
1.5 Has any of the model cities project land been acquired by the City or
' Community Renewal Agency since approval of zeae program?
1.6 Besides model cities projects, do any other low rent housing projects,.
whether government or privately sponsored, currently exist or have
progressed well along into the design stage?
Building Codes, Zoning and Planning Regulations
2.1 Does the City use any regional building or planning Codes?
2.2 Is a variance or other procedure used for minor adjustment to fit
specific conditions?
2.3 What are the agencies and procedures involved in code adminis -
tration and enforcement?
2.4 When was the last year in which the several codes were substan-
tially updated?
2.5 Is there a regular mechanism for code review and amendment?
Local Government Housing Structure
3.1 What local agencies are involved in the planning and development of
low-cost housing? What are their respective roles and their
relationship to each other?
3.2 Which of these agencies are in practice most important to the
housing process? .
3.3 In particular, is there a local Public Housing Authority and is it
currently operating any projects?
City Population Characteristics
4.1 What are the principal ethnic and racial groups in your City?
4.2 Are any of these groups concentrated in particular areas of the
city?
Construction Industry: Contractors and Trade Unions
If there is no one in your administration who is particularly knowledgeable
about these somewhat technical matters we would appreciate it if you could
arrange for our people to contact a few informed individuals, experienced
on building and construction.
5.1 Is there a active local trade association in which the majority of
general building contractors participate ?
5.2 What role has the building construction industry and the design pro-
fession in your city played in the introduction or new consteucticn
methods and a a ?
5.3 What has been the iietory of jurisdictional disputes among .
construction industry unions ?
5.4 Is there an organized Buildings Trades Unions Council or comparable
body?
5.5 How much construction is done under union jurisdiction ?
5.6 What is the racial composition of the building trades union member-
ship ?
5.7 Have the trade unions played a role in any recent consideration of
building code revisions ?
Planning Institutions
6.1 Is there a community or regional master plan; if so, when was it
adopted? When was it last revised (updated) ?
s
6.2 What organization, if any, is responsible for the implementation
and modification of this plan?
Finance
7.1 What state or local government funds are available for low income
housing? Are there any time limits on this availability?
7.2 Are there any significant amounts of private funding available locally
for low-cost housing, and if so, from what sources?
Land Availability
8.1 Is there any land whether vacant or built up under public ownership
available for low income housing? How much of this land is
available and where in the city is it located?
Is this land suitable for rehabilitation, for new construction or for
some combination of both?
Is there any land under private ownership available for low income
housing and where is it located?
What is the approximate current market value in dollars per square
foot of the various types of land available?
Is there any characteristic (geologic or locational) which limits
(or encourages) the type of use to which this land might be put?
erty Taxation
Is there a property tax based on some type of assessed valuation?
Is it applicable to all property including government-owned prop-
erty and property owned by non-profit organizations ?
How are assessments set and reviewed ?
What is the effect on property tax levies of undertaking a rehabili-
tation project ?
What tax incentive or abatement programs apply in the case of low-
cost housing?
What is the annual tax rate per $1, 000 of real market value? How
is this broken down into tax rate per dollar of assessed valuation
and the relationship of assessed to real value?
What local, state, county or special district government organizations
are supported by the property tax?