White House Press Release, Message from President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress

63 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 23, 1948. CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given cut or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in either the Senate or House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: In the next few weeks legislation authorizing rent con rol and emergency financial aids for housing construction will expire. The Congress should extend and improve this essential legislation, and at the same time should enact urgently needed new housing legislation. The objective should be an integrated program to assist in obtaining more housing at lower cost, both in the immediate futur and for the long run. This program should be based on the needs of all our people for housing, the ability of the housing industry to meet those needs, the most practical and effective method of giving Federal assistance, and the urgent necessity for reducing costs and prices in the housing field. I am glad that the Congress through several of its Committees has been making an extensive study of these matters. Today, far too many of our families are living in sub-standard housing, in painfully cramped quarters, or doubled up with friends or relatives. Over five million of our present homes are below minimum standards. About two and one-half million married couples live with other families, a 50 percent increase since 1940. Large numbers of families do not have enough space to give their children decent accom- modations. These conditions cannot help but be reflected in unsatis- factory home life and lowered standards of health. Their impact is greatest on our low income families, minority groups and new families started by veterans. These are some of the symptoms of our long-range housing problem. To provide better homes for families now in sub-standard or cramped housing, to meet the increased needs of a growing population, and to replace our supply of housing as it wears out we must look ahead to a long period of high volume construction. It will be necessary to produce an annual average of more than one million new houses and apart- ments in urban areas during the next ten years, and in addition a sub- stantial amount of housing in rural areas, if we are to have the housing this Nation needs and can afford. This will require the joint strength and effort of management and labor in the building industry, of private financial institutions and of Federal, state and local governments. As we make progress toward this goal, we will overcome the critical housing shortage by providing enough dwellings at prices which families who need them can afford. At the same time, we can also stabilize the housing industry and thus make a contribution toward preventing the violent fluctuations of the business cycle in general. The expansion of housing production is necessary in this inflationary period, just as it is necessary to expand the production of other articles in short supply which are vitally needed by our people. The critical housing shortage is contributing to the upward pressure on the selling price and rental price of housing. While we need rent control until this shortage can be overcome, the basic problem is to increase housing production to eliminate the shortage. The long-range and immediate aspects of the housing problem are intermingled. We must now take steps both to increase the immediate volume of housing construction and to achieve progressively better housing at lower cost over the years ahead. Without measures to "achieve both (OVER)