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    "localId": "1133419",
    "label": "6/26/75 - Urban Homesteading Conference, Opening Remarks",
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{
    "id": "1133419",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "6/26/75 - Urban Homesteading Conference, Opening Remarks",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1133419",
    "collections": [
        "Carla A. Hills Speeches",
        "Speeches"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Housing",
        "Local government",
        "Urban policy"
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    "coverageEndDate": {
        "day": 26,
        "logicalDate": "1975-06-26",
        "month": 6,
        "year": 1975
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{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/ford/grf-0305/656148/1133419.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box 1, folder \"6/26/75 - Urban Homesteading\nConference, Opening Remarks\" of the Carla A. Hills Speeches at the Gerald R. Ford\nPresidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nDigitized from Box 1 of the Carla A. Hills Speeches at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\nURBAN HOMESTEADING CONFERENCE\nOPENING REMARKS\nJUNE 26, 1975\nI WANT TO WELCOME YOU TO HUD's URBAN HOMESTEADING\nPLANNING CONFERENCE. THIS CONFERENCE MARKS HUD's FIRST\nSTEP IN IMPLEMENTING A PROGRAM WHICH I BELIEVE CAN PROVIDE\nA USEFUL TOOL TO COMMUNITIES IN THEIR EFFORTS TO STABILIZE\nAND PRESERVE URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS\nMANY AREAS OF OUR GREAT CITIES ARE BEING SACRIFICED\nTO OBSOLESCENCE AND DECAY, IN TOO MANY, THERE ARE\nABANDONED, BOARDED UP HOUSES WHICH ARE A BLIGHTING INFLUENCE\nON THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD AND RESIDENTS,\nToo MANY OF OUR CITY NEIGHBORHOODS CONTAIN HOMES\nWHICH ARE STRUCTUALLY SOUND BUT FOR REASONS HAVING NOTHING\nTO DO WITH THE QUALITY OF THE UNIT, THESE HOUSES ARE NOW\nABANDONED, DETERIORATING, AND OFTEN VANDALIZED. WORSE,\nTHESE ABANDONED UNITS TRIGGERS FURTHER ABANDONMENT AND\nACCELERATES THE neighborhood's DECLINE, AND, AS ABANDONMENT\nGROWS, so DOES THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE CONSIGNED TO NEARBY\nOVERCROWDED AND SUBSTANDARD DWELLINGS.\nGERALO A. FORD CIBRANCY\n-2-\nWE MUST FIND BETTER WAYS TO PRESERVE OUR EXISTING\nNEIGHBORHOODS AND HOUSING STOCK. WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD\nTO WASTE AN URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD, ITS HOUSING STOCK, AND\nITS PEOPLE.\nCITIES HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN PRESERVING URBAN\nNEIGHBORHOODS. THEY HAVE DONE SC WITH A VARIETY OF STRATEGIES.\nAREAS THAT WERE ONCE SLUMS HEADING FOR ABANDONMENT AND\nDEMOLITION ARE NOW BEING RESTORED. THESE ARE HOPEFUL SIGNS,\nONE OF THE TOOLS THAT CITIES HAVE UTILIZED IN REVITALIZING\nTHEIR NEIGHBORHOODS IS URBAN HOMESTEADING. THE CONCEPT\nORIGINATED SEVERAL YEARS AGO IN PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA\nAND WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, THE EXAMPLE SET BY THOSE CITIES\nHAS PRODUCED MODELS FOR MANY OTHER CITIES THROUGHOUT THE\nUNITED STATES. HUD HAS TRIED TO BE SUPPORTIVE OF CITIES\nUTILIZING THIS DEVICE BUT WAS PREVIOUSLY HAMSTRUNG BY ITS\nINCAPACITY TO PROVIDE HOMES OF ANY SIGNIFICANT VALUE TO\nCOMMUNITIES FOR USE IN THEIR HOMESTEADING PROGRAMS, OUR\nNEW DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM AUTHORIZED BY SECTION 810 OF THE\n1974 HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT PARTIALLY FREES\nUS FROM THAT RESTRAINT, WE HAVE AVAILABLE DURING THE COURSE\nOF THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR UP TO 5 MILLION DOLLARS IN POSITIVE\nVALUE PROPERTIES TO CONVEY TO CITIES FOR USE IN URBAN\nR.\nFORD\nHOMESTEADING PROGRAMS.\n07VU30\nI\n-3-\nBUT HOMESTEADING WILL REMAIN A LOCAL AND NOT A FEDERAL\nINITIATIVE. HUD WILL PROVIDE HOUSES TO COMMUNITIES FOR USE\nIN THE PROGRAMS THEY DESIGN AND ADMINISTER. THAT IS THE\nREASON FOR TODAY'S CONFERENCE. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS\nDEMONSTRATION IS INTENDED TO PROVIDE YOU AND YOUR CITIES\nWITH AN ADDITIONAL TOOL FOR URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION.\nTHIS CONFERENCE IS INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE A TWO-WAY\nCOMMUNICATION. WE WANT TO TELL YOU AS TO HOW WE INTEND TO\nIMPLEMENT URBAN HOMESTEADING, WE WANT TO KNOW YOUR IDEAS\nABOUT HOW OUR PROGRAM SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED, AND HOW THE\nFEDERAL GOVERNMENT, WITH THIS NEW TOOL, CAN BEST ASSIST\nYOU TO PRESERVE YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS. BEFORE THE PROGRAM TAKES\nITS FINAL FORM, WE WANT TO KNOW THE CITIES' VIEWS ON OUR\nCONTEMPLATED ACTIONS,\nIN THE GROUP TODAY ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF SEVERAL CITIES\nWITH HIGHLY AMBITIOUS AND SUCCESSFUL HOMESTEADING PROGRAMS,\nFORD CIBRA,\n1\n-4-\nTHIS CONFERENCE WILL BE AN OCCASION FOR AN INTERCHANGE\nOF IDEAS BETWEEN THOSE CITIES WHO HAVE URBAN HOMESTEADING\nPROGRAMS AND THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE A SINCERE INTEREST IN\nUTILIZING THIS DEVICE IN YOUR COMMUNITIES.\nWE ARE AWARE, OF COURSE, THAT URBAN HOMESTEADING IS\nNOT A PANACEA TO THE ILLS OF DECLINING NEIGHBORHOODS. IT\nIS ANOTHER TOOL FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO USE IN NEIGHBORHOOD\nPRESERVATION.\nFIRST, HOMESTEADING WILL NOT REVITALIZE AN ALREADY\nBADLY BLIGHTED AREA. IT IS PRIMARILY USEFUL IN STABILIZING\nA BASICALLY STABLE BUT DECLINING NEIGHBORHOOD.\nSECOND, IT IS NOT NEARLY AS SUCCESSFUL AS A MEANS OF\nPROVIDING HOUSING TO PEOPLE AS IT HAS BEEN IN PROVIDING\nPEOPLE TO ABANDONED HOUSES AND THEREBY STEMMING THE TIDE\nOF NEIGHBORHOOD DECLINE.\nGERALD P\n1\n-5-\nTHIRD, IT REQUIRES REINVESTMENT CAPITAL. THAT MEANS\nAN ACTIVE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE\nCOMMUNITIES' FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. MANY OF THE CITIES\nHERE TODAY HAVE DEVELOPED SUCH CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH\nTHE PRIVATE SECTOR, I WOULD HOPE THERE WILL BE A MEANINGFUL\nEXCHANGE OF IDEAS TODAY ON THIS ESSENTIAL FEATURE OF THE\nNEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION PROCESS.\nFINALLY, HOMESTEADING IS ONLY USEFUL AS PART OF A\nCOMPREHENSIVE ATTACK ON NEIGHBORHOOD DECAY, FILLING A FEW\nEMPTY HOUSES WILL NOT TURN A NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND, THE CAUSES\nOF NEIGHBORHOOD DECLINE ARE VARIED AND ITS DYNAMICS COMPLEX.\nTHE SOLUTIONS ARE EQUALLY VARIED AND COMPLEX. DEVELOPING\nSUCH A COORDINATED APPROACH TO NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT\nSHOULD ALSO BE A MATTER ON WHICH WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM EACH\nOTHER.\nURBAN HOMESTEADING IS ONLY ONE WAY IN WHICH THE FEDERAL\nGOVERNMENT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION. BUT,\nIT IS A TOOL ABOUT WHICH I AM OPTIMISTIC. I AM PLEASED WITH\nYOUR PRESENCE HERE AND HOPE THAT WE CAN ALL WORK TOGETHER TO\nPRESERVE OUR CITIES USING ALL THE TOOLS AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE.\nAND, I EXPECT THE SECTION 810 URBAN HOMESTEADING DEMONSTRATION\nTO SHOW THAT HOMESTEADING IS A VALUABLE PART OF THAT\nREVITALIZE OUR URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS.\nMIX BERAS TO FORD LIDRARY"
}