Basic HTML Version
January
1972
Tbe
PLAIN TRUTH
15
What is Needed to Solve our Public Housing ProblemsY
T
HE PROBLEM
of providing acle–
guate housing for the poor
cannot be solved in a vacuum. Hous–
ing is merely one of a broad range of
human necds
physical, psy–
chological and spiritual. As one
housing official has made dear:
"Housing is connected with all the
other problems of our society - the
racial problems, the school problems,
unemployment, etc. In order to make
progress in solving the housing
problem, you must make inroads into
thesc other social arcas. You cannot
isolate housing and try to solve it by
itself."
But where can we begin?
Long-Range Goals
Government must subordinate po–
litical considerations to the task of
attacking the crux of the housing
fiasco - the people and the faulty
structure of society itself.
Government can begin to do this
by providing not only the means, but
the vision. It can inspire the poor by
showing that there is hope, oppor–
tunity, energy, purpose in life, rather
than insolvable problems and hope–
lessness.
lt
rec¡uires leadership on a
lnitially, the massive projects - con–
centrating on building construction, not
character construction - operated with
a degree of success. For families dis–
placed by roads, freeways and down–
town construction programs, the new
projects were a welcome haven.
Concentration of Poor Families
Many of the families were black. But
as they moved in, white families began
moving out. Iocome limitations in many
projects forced the families of talent
and leadcrship to leave. That is, once a
family reached a certain level of income,
it was no longer eligible for the projcct.
The vacancies crcated were soon filied
with increasing numbers of displaced
poor in desperate need of housing. The
high-rise projccts became graduate
schools of poverty, disillusionment and
vice.
By the late Fifties and early Sixties,
the character of the people in public
housing projects had taken a dramatic
turn for the worse. Increasingly, they
high order and citizeos willing to act
with sustained determination.
There must
be
a concerted effort
to strengthen the family unit, particu–
larly among racial minorities. This
means the preservation of the family
unit, institution of right child rear–
ing programs, reduction and elimina–
tion of illegitimacy. There must also
be opportunities for both jobs and
job training.
Because so much of the public
housing project problcm revolves
around the race issue, there needs to
be a drastic improvement in race rela–
tions. We must find a way to bridge
thc economic and racial gap between
whites, blacks and other racial
groups without arousing hostilities.
A poor, underprivileged com–
ponent of society has found its way
into an urban world. The result,
found at its worst in the urban hous–
ing projects, is lack of jobs, financia!
opportunities, proper education and
general impoverishment.
The United States, being the
world's richest nation, should be
more than capable of providiny. the
necded physical resources to pr vide
adcc¡uate housing and supplcmen-
tended to be black and very poor. The
result was magnification of their indi–
vidual social probkms.
Today, the inadequacies of high-rise
projects have become so glaring that
officials have declared a moratorium on
their construction. The theory upon
which the projects were bascd has
proved to
be
incomplete, and thc ap–
proach has failed. Simply providing bet–
ter dwelling units has not offered a
simple solution to the many social prob–
lems of thc poor. lt did not, of itself,
raise incomes, provide better educations,
change the character of the people or
create a beneficia! environment for
proper development of the human
mind.
Instead, the projects turncd out to be
dramatic problem intensifiers. As the in–
flucntial
Architerlttral J(ecord
put it,
"Grouping together largc numbcrs of
impoverishcd fam ilies exaggerates the
problems and diminishes every chance
of ever achieving constructive social
tary social programs. The develop–
ment of the world's richest economy,
despite its problems, has created
an abundance of jobs, goods, ser–
vices, and housing opportunities.
We need a well thought-out and
coordinated educational program to
teach the impoverished. The program
should be two-fold in overall pur–
pose. First, thc people need to be
taught how to live and to have in–
stilled in them sorne of the following
values: the sanctity of the family, a
respect and concern for neighbor, a
purpose in life involving the present
and the future.
Secondly, project dwellers should
be taught how to obtain and hold
decent employment. Business and in–
dustry could do more to assist in
making the latter goal become a
reality.
While stress should
be
laid on in–
dividualism, community spirit should
also be present. Neccssary services
also necd to
be
provided. This in–
eludes schools, opportunities for per–
sonal and moral guidance, stores,
utilittes, recreational facilities, cul–
tural opportunities and commercial
areas for employment.
goals. We now know that to provide a
safe, sound, sanitary dwelling unit is
not cnough."
Needed Now: Human and
Social Renewal
The housing problem is just one
part of a larger matrix of individual
and social problems. Making progress
in solving the manr-facetcd aspects of
the housing situation involves dealing
with individual human needs, not only
their housing needs.
It
involves, as Mr. Thomas W. Joyce,
Project Manager at Carmelitos, Long
Beach, California put it, ' 'The whole
man, the whole human being." In other
words, urban renewal should include
HUMAN RENEWA!.
coupled with
SOCIAL
RENE\X' AL
as a major, if not
the
major
goal. Even before laying the founda–
tions of the buildings, we must tirst lay
a solid economic, social and spiritual
foundation in each pcrson. ( For dctails
on how it may
be
accomplished, see
accompanying box.)
o