Page:Longines Chronicles with Albert M. Cole 1954 ARC-96006.ogv/7

Cole
Well, I was present when Senator Capehart made his statement in Washington today. May I go back a few months and say to you that President Eisenhower, when I was appointed administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, said to me "I want to develop a sound, progressive, and aggressive attack upon the problem of obtaining decent housing for the people of America. I want you to study all of the ramifications of this complex and controversial problem, and I mean it is very complex and quite controversial." So we began to study it. We set up in Washington a committee called shirt-sleeve conferences. And to that committee, to those conferences, we called people of all walks of life: labor, lenders, home builders, manufacturers, bankers, architects, people of all different sorts of backgrounds, and we secured their advice. Then I went to the country and visited twelve representative cities, and there I asked the people to tell me what they thought about housing. Following that, the President appointed an advisory committee on housing and that committee was composed of top level people in lending, in home building, architects again, labor, public interests groups, public housing officials, and they then have recently presented to the President a report on the government housing policies and programs. It is my judgment that this report contains a sound and a progressive program which will provide the people of America good housing and fine neighborhoods and well planned communities.