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ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE NATIONAL AD HOC HOUSING COALITION

AFL-CIO

American Friends Service Committee

American Institute of Architects

American Institute of Housing Consultants

American Institute of Planners

American Public Health Association

American Baptist Convention-Division of Social Concern

American Society of Consulting Planners

American Urban Coalition

Center for Community Change

Center for National Policy Review

Center for Responsive Law

Christian Science Committee

Council of Housing Producers

Foundation for Cooperative Housing

Friends Committee on National Legislation
Gerontological Society

Housing Development Corporation
Institute for Government Assisted Housing
Interreligious Coalition for Housing
Interstate Research Associates

Jesuit Convention

Joint Center for Political Studies

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
League of New Community Developers
League of Women Voters of the U.S.

Maryland Coalition on National Priorities

Model Cities Housing Development Corporation

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association of Building Manufacturers

National Association of Home Builders

National Association of Housing Cooperatives, Inc.

National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials

National Association of Minority Contractors

National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc.

National Board of the YWCA

National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing

National Council on the Aging

National Education Association

National Council of Jewish Women

National Council of Senior Citizens

National Corporation for Housing Partnerships

National Farmers Union

National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers
National Forest Products Association

National Housing Conference

National Housing Rehabilitation Association

National Parks and Conservation Association

National People's Action on Housing

National Realty Committee, Inc.

National Retired Teachers Association/American

Association of Retired Persons

National Conference on Catholic Charities

National Recreation and Park Association

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

National Rural Housing Coalition

National Spanish Speaking Housing Development Corporation

National Tenants Information Service

National Tenants Organization

National Urban Coalition

National Urban League

National Wildlife Federation

Neighbors Organized for Action in Housing, Inc.

Nonprofit Housing Center

ORGANIZATIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE NATIONAL AD HOC HOUSING COALITION-Con.

Opportunity Funding Corporation

The Producer's Council

Section 23 Leased Housing Association

Southwest Council of La Raza

United Methodist Church and Society

United Mortgage Bankers of America, Inc.

Urban Environment Conference

United Federation of State and County Municipal Employees

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE SUSPENSION OF NEW ACTIVITY IN HUD HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, FISCAL YEARS 1973 AND 1974 1

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V. Impact on employment:

Based on a factor of 115 workers employed for 1 year for each $1,000,000 spent on all construction
and related facilities and services:

Total man years lost

Total dollar impact ($19,298.0 X 115)

1 Based on factors supplied by Dr. Michael Sumichrast, National Association of Home Builders.

2,200,000

2 Part of the economic impact from unutilized authority will come in fiscal year ending June 30, 1973, because of cutbacks in projected construction starts in fiscal year 1973. The sec. 235 construction starts were reduced by 105,500 units over the original fiscal year 1973 budget; the sec. 236 starts were reduced by 87,800 units over the original budget. Public housing starts were reduced 20,000 units over the original projections in fiscal year 1973, but will be placed under contract in fiscal year 1974.

[Attachment III]

PROGRESS TOWARD 1968 HOUSING GOALS FOR LOW AND MODERATE INCOME FAMILIES UNDER HUD

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Source: For original housing goals: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, March 1968, submission by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, pt. 2, table 1-c, p. 1325; for actual starts, fiscal years 1969 through 1971, "President's Fourth Annual Report on National Housing Goals, 1972, pp. 44-45; for estimated housing starts, fiscal years 1972, 1973, and 1974, budget highlight tables, fiscal year 1974, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Jan. 29, 1973, table 9.

STATEMENT OF REV. ROBERT E. JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN, INTERRELIGIOUS COALITION FOR HOUSING, NEW YORK CITY

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Separation of Powers Subcommittee, my name is Rev. Robert E. Johnson, and I am chairman of the Interreligious Coalition for Housing with representation from 18 Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant religious groups.

We wish to express our stronghearted approval and support of Senate Bill 373, the Impoundment Control Bill, which was introduced on January 16, 1973 by Chairman Ervin and 44 of his colleagues to insure the separation of federal powers by requiring the President to notify Congress whenever he impounds funds, or authorizing the impounding of funds; and to provide a procedure under which the Senate and House of Representatives may approve the President's action or require the President to cease such action.

The ICH is a member of the National Ad Hoc Housing Coalition and wholeheartedly supports the statement made by the Chairman Robert Maffin.

We believe in the separation of powers and are opposed to impounding funds without congressional approval. If the President is allowed to do this and continues to impound funds the very situation of constitutional government may be altered by fiat.

The President has promised to bring the people together. Yet by his acts of impoundment he is tending to set people of differing economic groups against each other. At the very least his action makes the poor suspicious of administration's willingness to help the poor and moderate income people who are in such dire need for decent housing. Our national policy calls for decent, safe, and sanitary homes for all people regardless of race or income. The impoundment makes this an impossible task-postponing the inevitable and leading to increasing costs due to projected inflation.

The religious groups have invested front-end monies in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, to procure land, hire personnel, draft architectural plans, train

board members and purchase legal and consultative technical and managerial services. Not only will these funds go down the drain, but many staff people will be looking for new jobs and the money and time invested in these skilled folks will be lost to the housing field. If there is a start up at a later date, they will be difficult to rehire. Retraining requires 1 to 2 years; therefore, the poor will have a long time to wait for homes.

Secondly, the religious organizations have provided hundreds of volunteers with professional and lay skills to make projects feasible. This also requires time to develop expertise. They, too, will lose interest in an on again-off again program such as the moratorium suggests through the impoundment of housing funds.

Thirdly, many of our organizations have received funding from foundations. Because of the impoundment, many of the foundations are not issuing new commitments, or they are cutting back with the excuse that the administration is not in favor of housing for low and moderate income people.

In addition, there is a multiplier effect which will cut the incomes of blue collar workers, contractors, architects, lawyers, consultants, and social service workers.

May we emphasize that we are concerned with all housing programs for all segments of our society whether in the central city, the metropolitan area, suburbia, small towns and rural areas. We urge the need for family singles and Senior Citizen housing.

The mayors of many major cities have pointed out that revenue sharing cannot take the place of categorical grants and the impoundment of housing funds seriously affects these core cities. The mayors also did not understand that the revenue sharing funds were to replace on-going housing programs including water and sewage. We agree. The rural areas of our country are already depressed and the impoundment will only increase these hardships for these people.

Lastly, we urge that the tandem loan between the Government National Mortgage Association and the Federal National Mortgage Association be continued. A moratorium and impoundment of funds for this program would be disastrous.

The Coalition includes representatives from the American Baptist Conference, the Christian Church (Disciplines of Christ), the Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church U.S., the National Conference of Catholic Charities, the United States Catholic Conference, the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the United Presbyterian Church, the Federation of Reformed Synagogues, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Churches, the Joint Strategy and Action Committee, and the National Housing and Human Development Alliance.

Mr. Chairman, we thank you for your efforts. We are prepared to respond to questions and are prepared to testify and bring further information at your request and would welcome such an opportunity.

Senator CHILES. Our next witness will be Mr. James D. O'Connor, president of the National Telephone Cooperative Association, accompanied by Mr. David Fullarton.

STATEMENT OF JAMES D. O'CONNOR. PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, ACCOMPANIED BY DAVID C. FULLARTON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION

Mr. O'CONNOR. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.

Senator CHILES. Good afternoon. As you know we are running late today.

Mr. O'CONNOR. We will be brief.

Senator CHILES. If there is any way you can sum up your statement, we will be delighted to put the complete text in the record.

Mr. O'CONNOR. I am James D. O'Connor currently president of the National Telephone Cooperative Association, also manager of the Hancock Rural Telephone Corp., of Maxwell, Ind., and with your permission I would like to have our executive vice president, Mr. David Fullarton, give our statement.

Senator CHILES. Yes sir.

Mr. FULLARTON. Mr. Chairman, as you pointed out, you have had a long day. With your permission I would like to have my prepared statement made part of the record and be allowed to summarize, briefly, our position.

Senator CHILES. It will be submitted in full.

Mr. FULLARTON. Thank you sir.

The National Telephone Cooperative Association is here today representing our members' special interest group that are both negatively and directly affected by what does not even amount to Executive order of December 29, 1972. In fact the Department of Agriculture issued a one page press release which effectively cut off impounded full funds made available by the Congress for fiscal year 1973.

Of those funds that were made available total $140 million for loans to be repaid, $89 million of the $140 million appropriation was impounded.

We feel that we are here basically to testify in support of S. 373, which is the bill introduced by Senator Ervin and other distinguished Members of the Senate, and we are for it unequivocally and wholly. We think that the solution to our particular problem lies in the solution of the general problem of the impoundment and the matters related to it. We view impoundment as a double-barreled threat. We think it is a threat not only to the congressional authority to appropriate but also to the congressional authority to legislate. In the case of our particular program which has been referred to and identified as the REA telephone program-that is what we are talking about-that program provides a good example of how, in fact, the active impoundment has the effect of legislating, doing things that were never maintained or directed by Congress. As to the appropriations, we feel that the REA Act of 1936, reserves to Congress the right to appropriate. The new method, which apparently originated in the Office of Management and Budget, of financing the loans that have been financed the same way since 1936, through insured and guarantee loan programs, instead of direct loan programs, we feel bypasses entirely the Congress and, in fact, is in direction negative of the congressional intent which has been reinforced each year by the appropriation bills that have been passed.

Under the present scheme (we don't know whether it is legal or illegal) theoretically the Office of Management and Budget could decide amounts to be appropriated, whether $40 million, $50 million, or in fact zero million dollars for the remainder of fiscal year 1973. They are saying you are going to have the same amount of loan fund, just turned to a different program at different interest rates. We have no assurance 30 days from now that figure couldn't change to half of what they are saying or zero, and there is no provision, of course, in the impoundment process for congressional or other type of review. We feel this is a very clear and present danger, not only to our

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