The framework of the Series is based on the primacy of the consumer in the housing market and in housing policy. The very nature of housing makes it almost inevitable that both the product of the housing industry and the mechanism.
INTRODUCTION
Part one describes the government structure that typically exists in metropolitan areas, defines the nature of the problem of metropolitan organization, and considers why so little of the many plans that have been proposed have come to fruition. As the following pages show, changes in government structure in metropolitan areas can do a lot to improve the housing situation, but this needs to be said right away.
THE STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT IN
METROPOLITAN AREAS
GOVERNMENT AND HOUSING IN METROPOLITAN AREA. total metropolitan area population, has slightly more than one-third of all the govt. THE STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT IN METROPOLITAN AREAS. of "local governments" seems very impressive, although a large number of school districts does not necessarily indicate.
8'ONN'"
Antonio, San Francisco-Oakland and Seattle, a larger portion of the housing units outside the central city are dilapidated or missing. For several decades the Negro population in the central cities of these areas has grown much faster than the white population.
THE LOGIC OF
METRO PO LIT AN
REORGANIZATION
For a recent discussion by a sociologist on the problem of defining metropolitan society, see Albert J. Housing is one of the very few conditions not usually thought to require metropolitan administration.
THE POLITICS OF METRO PO LIT AN
Thus, although Republicans can rely on heavy majorities in metropolitan areas, Democrats can count on controlling the central cities. The opposite is possible, of course, and in the long run perhaps more likely, in some cases, the conflict may worsen rather than be better managed, as a consequence of the political separation of the central city and the periphery. It's not just newspaper editors and other spokespeople for the "big interests" of the central city they want to protect.
Fifth, political leaders of states may take a more active interest in metropolitan areas.
PART TWO
IMPEDIMENTS
Inequality in property tax assessments is the result of the decentralized organization of the tax system. These statements will be discussed one by one. Problems as they arise in the eyes of city officials, civic leaders, investors in construction projects and others primarily concerned with housing will be taken as a starting point in the following chapters; We will then attempt to show its full nature in a broader policy context. Indeed, in most cases no simple conclusions are possible: what is a good thing from the point of view of one group of housing consumers (for example, middle-income white people) may be a bad thing from the point of view of another group of consumers. (e.g., low-income blacks).
Other issues, such as those related to mortgage interest rates or the alleged restrictive practices of some unions, may be greater barriers to housing than the issues discussed here. As for the structure of government, the proposals isolated in this section cover the most important problems of those most concerned about housing in metropolitan areas.
METRO PO LIT AN PLANNING
Because of the potential savings that come from planned… rather than unplanned development, utilities are often at the forefront of the urban planning movement. The control of growth on the outskirts of the city can be distinguished from the comprehensive planning of the entire metro-. The federal grant program for regional and metropolitan planning and design is therefore of great value.
For example, it was extremely difficult to “phase the activities of the housing agencies even within a single city.
EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE ZONING , SUBDIVISION
It may be that from the consumer's point of view (or if not from his, from the point of view of the public as a whole) the extra dollars are well spent: the convenience created by the design may take precedence over all the other things that would be bought with the same expenditure, In this case, the costs of planning are more than offset by its benefits, and the investment has generated a net profit. The status of planners is that they currently have relatively little power to influence this scale, but wider powers for planners are foreseeable and should be encouraged. This development should not be allowed to drive significant groups of the population out of the housing market.
REGULATIONS
84 GOVERNMENT AND HOUSING IN METROPOLITAN AREA. the low-income, low-status populations of the central cities are confined to the slums by zoning ordinances designed to keep the suburbs exclusive. With regard to the specific problem of resettlement housing for those removed from the dense core of the central city in. However, it is doubtful whether this is a serious obstacle to the improvement of the housing situation, As one builder explained.
Fortunately, it is possible to have many of the advantages of centralization without its disadvantages.
THE INADEQUATE LEGAL POWER OF LOCAL
This is a desirable arrangement if—and only if—the state code is free of the encumbrances that labor unions and building materials manufacturers have succeeded in inserting into so many local codes. There is no doubt that some of the most unreasonable and oppressive codes are in the larger cities where special interests have long wielded great political power. If, in the name of uniformity and simplicity, the codes of these large cities were extended to the entire metropolitan area, the effect would be worse than the present lack of uniformity. The problem of increasing the level of regulation in small cities is probably less difficult than that of reducing the overregulation that so often occurs in the larger cities, Studies such as those conducted by the Metropolitan Denver Home Builders Associa- . tion, which pointed to additional costs attributable to unreasonable regulation, can do much to prepare the way for change.
All but two cities in the Denver region have adopted a uniform minimum code following the release of the association study results. ii).
GOVERNMENTS
As the relative importance of the metropolitan electorate to the entire electorate increases, there will most likely be a. Council of State Governments State-Local Relations, One of the authors of this study (Grodzins) was the lead author of the Council report. Almost half of its population were children, In April 1956 homeowners in one of the community's primary schools.
11 For the League's criticism of the boundaries, see its publication American Intergovernmental Relations National Municipal League, New York, 1954, p, 20,.
TAX DEFICIENCIES AND INEQUALITIES
All three projections put housing and renovation in a radically different place than the one they now occupy in the budget of the combined major cities: $1. But such steps would come at the expense of growing opposition from other parties: the cited example from the residents of the areas where the housing would move. City tax revenues are affected by the size of the taxing area and tax competition from neighboring jurisdictions.
The size of the metropolitan population not included in the corporate boundaries of the capital center represents a cost factor for.
THE POVERTY
OF CIVIC LEADERSHIP
Because the federal government recognizes the value of this state aid as part of the matching money needed. There is no doubt that some central cities have been emptied of the rich and highly educated, "Social deprivation. Another problem of leadership not often mentioned, but of first importance, is the need for leadership of neighborhood groups.
3 What a strong volunteer organization in a large city can do to facilitate urban renewal is illustrated by the example of the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council in the Chicago area. The Council employed the former regional director of community services for a federal housing agency. to help Chicago neighborhoods navigate the complexities of renewal.
PART THREE REMEDIES
The need for funds will usually be such that the core of the group must be an institution, such as a hospital, church, or college, or a commercial organization, such as a factory or department store, with this type of institutional support, individuals, block groups can and other social forces make themselves fully effective. There is virtually no place in the metropolitan area - whether central city or suburbs - where such a combination of institutional, community and individual efforts cannot be found and activated.
CURRENT PROPOSALS
Texas cities lead in both the number of annexations and the amount of territory affected. A metropolitan Department of Public Safety would be responsible for most law enforcement of all traffic laws in and out. In some, but not all, metropolitan areas, the creation of zones with special functions reduces the power of the central city vis- 4 Separation of functions was originally recommended by the public.
One reason for the widespread acceptance of the metropolitan district is that voters will approve it even though they don't approve it.
CONCLUSIONS
As the center and energy force of the metropolitan organization, the mayor of the central city will actively seek. That willingness isn't just due to the small-town official's smaller stature, though. Milwaukee, have been "not only indifferent to the problems of the central cities, but hostile to them", but, for a speed.
In short, with strong leadership from the political leaders of the central cities, state support can be used to promote an emerging federalism of the various governments in the metropolitan areas.
IND EX