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7345216
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Presidential statement on signing S. 3295 - Housing Authorization Act of 1976 [Signing Statements and Announcements]
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7345216
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document
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Presidential statement on signing S. 3295 - Housing Authorization Act of 1976 [Signing Statements and Announcements]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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U.S. Senate. (03/04/1789 - )
Legislation
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7345216
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4
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1976-08-04
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8
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1976
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Digitized from Box 29 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
[4]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 4, 1976
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
I have
signed into law S. 3295, the Housing
Authorization Act of 1976.
The need to increase the quantity and quality of
housing in America and to assure adequate housing for all
Americans has been one of my primary concerns. S. 3295
contains provisions which are important in helping us reach
these housing goals, and also contains important fiscal
year 1977 authorizations for the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Unfortunately, it also contains provisions
which indicate the strong reluctance on the part of this
Congress to seek real solutions to the problems we face in
assuring adequate housing for all lower-income Americans.
Two years ago, the Ninety-third Congress authorized
a new approach to provide rental subsidies for lower...
income families --- the Section 8 Housing Assistance
Payments Program. This program was designed to avoid the
serious, and well-documented, defects in the then-existing
public housing program.
As a result of that new program, for the first time
in our history we have been using effectively the existing
housing in inventory, as well as new housing, to provide
decent shelter for the Nation's poor. This approach is
approximately half as costly as constructing new public
housing, and it prevents the waste of our Nation's housing
stock. Moreover, this program permits lower-income families
to live in modest homes, indistinguishable from those of
their neighbors, instead of institutionalized housing.
In S. 3295, however, the Congress has ignored both our
unfortunate previous experience and the recent success re-
sulting from the Section 8 program. Reversing this record
of progress, it voted to re-initiate a public housing program.
Fortunately, in the 1977 HUD appropriation bill, the Congress
has voted overwhelmingly to cut back the size of that program.
S. 3295 would also extend a number of programs which
should be discontinued and would authorize appropriations
far in excess of my budget proposals. Although the Congress
in acting on HUD's appropriation bill has demonstrated much
greater restraint than was shown in S. 3295, the threat to
future budgets remains because these high authorizations
produce unrealistic expectations.
This bill also calls for short-sighted and illogical
changes in the way interest rates are established under
certain existing Federal programs.
more
2
Despite my strong reservations about these and other
undesirable features. I have signed this bill because good
government requires that a number of the authorizations and
program extensions contained in S. 3295 become law as soon
as possible. I have instructed Secretary Hills to use the
resources of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
to implement this measure in a manner which will maximize
its benefits while reducing as much as possible the inevitable
frustration, delays and increased costs it will also bring.
# # #