April 20, 1967
Page 10288
THE NATIONAL HOME OWNERSHIP FOUNDATION ACT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the order of Tuesday, April 18, the Senator from Illinois [Mr. PERCY] is recognized.
Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Illinois yield for that purpose? The Senator from Illinois has the floor for 1 hour.
Mr. PERCY. I shall yield in a moment.
Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Mr. AIKEN, Mr. ALLOTT, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BOGGS, Mr. BROOKE, Mr. CARLSON, Mr. CASE, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COTTON, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. DIRKSEN, Mr. DOMINICK, Mr. FANNIN, Mr. FONG, Mr. GRIFFIN, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. HATFIELD, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. HRUSKA, Mr. JAVITS, Mr. JORDAN of Idaho, Mr. KUCHEL, Mr. MAGNUSON, Mr. MILLER, Mr. MORTON, Mr. MUNDT, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. PEARSON, Mr. PROUTY, Mr. SCOTT, Mrs. SMITH, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. TOWER, Mr. WILLIAMS of Delaware, and Mr. YOUNG of North Dakota, I introduce, for appropriate reference, a bill to charter a National Home Ownership Foundation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and appropriately referred.
The bill (S. 1592) to charter a National Home Ownership Foundation, and for other purposes, introduced by Mr. PERCY (for himself and other Senators), was received, read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency.
Mr. PERCY. Mr. President, I now yield to the Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. PERCY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. MONTOYA in the chair). Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. PERCY. Mr. President, the Purposes of this bill are essentially seven: First, to promote the improvement of the declining urban and rural areas of the Nation;
Second, to encourage the provision of decent housing for inhabitants of those areas;
Third, to advance the opportunities for and enjoyment of equity ownership in housing by the inhabitants of those areas,
Fourth, to inspire new self-help efforts by individuals and meaningful involvement by local neighborhood associations in improving their conditions and environments;
Fifth, to bring together into one coordinated effort local housing, education, training, employment, and related supporting programs;
Sixth, to encourage a new spirit of community at the neighborhood level; and
Seventh, to mobilize America's private enterprise system and its religious organizations, educational institutions, labor unions, foundations and professional, civic, and rural organizations and associations in employing their strengths and resources toward the achievement of these ends.
I do not intend to speak at length on this subject at this time, Mr. President, although I do expect to do so in the future.
At this time I would like to say primarily how very grateful I am to the hundreds of people from all walks of life who have given me the benefit of their thinking on this complex yet vitally important subject over the past 10 months. Most important are my fellow Senators who have joined me in sponsoring this bill. No one could be more grateful than this junior Senator for the invaluable wisdom and counsel they have afforded me as draft after draft of this legislation has been written, examined, criticized, and rewritten. While I must bear responsibility for any shortcomings of the bill as introduced today, Mr. President, I must share the greater part of the credit for its merits with them, and with the many people from slum dweller to corporation president to union leader to housing expert who have contributed directly or indirectly to the bill before us.
I make no pretense at having found the philosopher’s stone, Mr. President. I do not dare to pretend that this bill, if enacted, would solve all the problems at which it is directed. I do not pretend that its language is beyond criticism. But I do believe, after these arduous months of work, that this is basically a good bill and an important bill. And I am certain that through the deliberate process of the Congress, it can be refined into legislation worthy of broad support. In the months ahead I intend to work as best I can with Senators of both parties, with the executive branch of the Government, and with the many organizations and interested persons outside of Congress to achieve that goal.
Mr. President, I am gratified to be able to announce that simultaneously today, Representative
WILLIAM B. WIDNALL, of New Jersey, will introduce a companion bill in the House of Representatives, with the sponsorship of more than 100 Representatives. Congressman WIDNALL has worked in the field of housing for more than 20 years and is a known expert in this field. He is the ranking minority member of the Banking and Currency Committee and of the Housing Subcommittee. He and his staff have given careful thought to the bill, and have contributed the valuable benefit of the expertise they have in this field. I am extremely proud to have him as a cosponsor.
Mr. President, early this year when the Senate and the House of Representatives assembled to hear the President's state of the Union message, I was deeply impressed with one particular section of the message. He looked up from his text, looked to his left, and said:
I should like to say to the Members of the opposition, whose numbers, if I am not mistaken, seem to have increased somewhat, that the genius of the American political system has always been best expressed through creative debate that offers choices and reasonable alternatives. Throughout our history, great Republicans and Democrats have seemed to understand this. So let there be light and reason in our relations. That is the way to a responsible session and a responsive Government.
I believe this Congress, in the short time that I have been privileged to be a Member, has given careful and thoughtful consideration to the many proposals that have been sent to us by the Executive. I think the President has every right to expect, and in a sense has asked, that Congress itself be a creative body – that it not just respond, but that it create ideas and solutions of its own that, in turn, can be reviewed by the executive branch.
It is in that spirit that I present this legislation to help lower income families to own their own homes. I have been speaking on this subject since the midst of my campaign for the Senate in Illinois. Ten months ago, we began speaking in broad terms of finding a way to help the people of rural and urban America to have a genuine stake in their communities through home ownership.
I have been very gratified indeed that the President has also commented on this principle. In his March 14 message on poverty he said:
We must learn how best to help low-income families own their own homes.
Mr. President, one of the great barriers to home ownership by low-income families is their inability to get together enough capital with which to make a down payment.
I suggested 10 months ago the concept of contribution of sweat equity, so that a low-income person could contribute his labor toward a refurbishing or construction of his home or apartment. That labor, contributed over a period of weeks or months, would act as a down payment if the person did not have any reserve cash.
I was grateful that Vice President HUMPHREY, as recently as February 15, 1967, had this to say:
Furthermore, we should be able to put the people in these slum areas to work in this purpose, thus acquiring what has been called a sweat equity in their own homes.
On both sides of the aisle, Democratic and Republican, we have been working toward this concept. We have also all been working toward finding a way to bring the great resources of our private enterprise system to bear on some of the great social problems that simply have not yielded to 100-percent governmental action.
I think this is certainly the spirit of our chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee, the Senator from Alabama [Mr. SPARKMAN]. He has already indicated that he wishes to find new answers to old problems. He has indicated his intention to schedule, toward the middle of the year, hearings on ideas that have been presented by the Senator from New York [Mr. JAVITS], the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. RIBICOFF], and myself, explore new approaches to the problems of urban and rural housing.
I would turn to my colleagues in the Senate on the Democratic side of the aisle in the spirit of a statement put out this morning by the joint Republican leadership of the House and Senate. Senator DIRKSEN and Representative FORD said:
We urge the Democratic leadership and the majorities in the House and Senate to join us in pressing for the earliest possible consideration and enactment of this low income housing ownership for low-income families plan.
That subject was discussed by our joint Republican leadership this morning and refers to the legislation I present to the Senate today.
The purpose of the bill I am introducing on behalf of my colleagues and myself is to offer to American low-income families the opportunity, through their own effort, energy, willingness, determination, and perseverence to own their own home, to gain an economic stake in their own community, and to have the pride and self-esteem that comes with home ownership.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a brief summary of the National Home Ownership Foundation Act, the text of the act itself, a section-by-section analysis, and an explanatory memorandum be printed on the RECORD.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and appropriately referred; and, without objection, the bill and other material will be printed in the RECORD as requested by the Senator from Illinois.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I am pleased to join as a cosponsor with the distinguished Senator from Illinois [Mr. PERCY] and other Members on this side of the aisle in an effort to provide a new initiative in the housing field. I have long been of the view that home ownership makes an individual a better citizen, as it gives him an added reason for showing more concern about the actions of his Government, both local and national. The proposal introduced here today is designed to increase home ownership for those of low or moderate income. Hopefully, under this method, these individuals will become contributing members of society, in contrast to the other methods now available which would make them more recipient than contributor. Any effort designed to bring to bear the resources and management skills of private industry on the problem of providing housing for those otherwise unable to afford it, and to create a spirit of independence and initiative on the part of those who are thereby enabled to live in a home they own, should certainly be applauded by everyone.
The maze of public housing and rent subsidy programs now in operation have proved to be no long-range solution to this problem. Instead, the existing programs have created a situation verging on virtual serfdom for those who find themselves unable to rise above the level of the familiar public housing project. After a while, an air of resignation sets in where a person feels that if he increases his income slightly, and is required to move from the project by virtue of this increase, he will be unable to find and afford other accommodations. This has acted in such a way as to stifle initiative.
In addition, all too often, the public housing project has become a Government-sponsored ghetto, bearing all the characteristics, both physical and mental, of the traditional ghetto.
I view this proposal being introduced today as an alternative to existing programs, and not an addition to existing programs. It may not be perfect, and I am sure that its chief sponsor, the distinguished junior Senator from Illinois [Mr. PERCY] would not contend that it is a perfect proposal in every way. However, much hard work and thought have gone into its preparation, and the committee system in the Senate exists for the purpose of perfecting proposals such as this. With these thoughts in mind, I am pleased to join in this effort, and I commend Senator PERCY for his imagination and creativity in guiding this program to its present state.
Mr. PERCY. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from South Carolina. I yield to the Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, first of all I applaud the initiative and the effort which the distinguished junior Senator from Illinois has obviously devoted to this significant piece of legislation.
I appreciate the opportunity I had on yesterday to briefly discuss the matter with the Senator. I regret that I have not had an opportunity to study the bill in all of its implications. However, it includes two objectives with which I am in hearty accord.
The first objective is that of home ownership by low-income groups. The second objective is the stimulation of private enterprise to become interested and work on the problem of home ownership for low-income groups.
I am in such hearty accord with these two objectives that I have asked my staff and the executive agencies to prepare an analysis of the Senator's bill outlining all of its implications.
I promise the Senator my continuing and conscientious interest in the bill as it develops in committee.
I promise to do everything I can to help develop the measure in a way that will make it a worthwhile legislative goal from the point of view of every Senator.
The problem of our cities and of housing for low income and other disadvantaged groups is one that should commend itself to the attention of every citizen of our country. I believe the problem of housing raises more risk of political instability and unrest than almost any other factor, not excepting unemployment and economic opportunities.
[UNRELATED INTERVENING ACTION OMITTED]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the order previously entered, the Senator from Illinois has the floor and may continue.
Mr. PERCY. I yield to the Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. In closing these brief observations, may I say that I applaud the Senator from Illinois, and I look forward to a thorough exploration of this most worthwhile proposal.
Mr. PERCY. I appreciate the spirit of the Senator's comments. I cannot believe that partisanship will ever become involved when we are attempting to help people in poverty conditions who wish to help themselves. I am grateful for the spirit of the Senator's comments.