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Burlington Commission on Human Rights, 1964-1965

Report on Urban Renewal Programs and Their Effects on Racial Minority Group Housing in Three Iowa Cities - Page 11

Except for two representatives of the Urban Renewal staff, city officials failed to respond to the invitation to attend the open meeting held in Des Moines. It appears that to date, no effective means of providing housing for the large family and the nonwhite family has been found in Des Moines.

It seems to the Committee that they Mayor's Housing Action Committee is more interested in discovering ways in which local builders can make money than in meeting the problem presented by families who cannot afford the current rents. The statements made by the Mayor's Housing Committee, as quoted to the press, and the kind of projects it has suggested, seem to indicate little concern for the minority and low income groups affected by urban renewal. The actions of this group seem to indicate a hope that if the actual provision of houses for these families can be delayed long enough, the problem will go away or that something will happen to solve it.

Having fought and helped to defeat the public housing referendum for Des Moines in 1962, which might have solved the problem of housing for low-income families, the realtors and builders fought a proposed open-occupancy municipal ordinance which also might have helped to provide housing for these families. An open-occupancy ordinance was drawn up at the direct of the City Council. It came up for action by the Council during the 1963 campaign for election to the Council. Each of the four successful candidates took a stand against an open-occupancy housing ordinance as did those who were defeated.

The open-occupancy ordinance was rejected by the Council in spite of the fact that it had accepted an open-occupancy provision in 1959 in the city's Urban Renewal tracts.9 It rejected open-occupancy in spite of widespread backing by such groups as the Board of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters, the Greater Des Moines Ministerial Association, and a group of prominent lawyers who sought to answer the City Council's concern about the legality of the ordinance. Some members of the Council even asserted that Negroes did not want open-occupancy.

The failure of passage of the open-occupancy ordinance leaves the people who are less able to find housing still in need.

Around the first of November 1962,10
__________
9. Editorial, Des Moines Tribune, Sept. 25, 1963.

10. Des Moines Tribune, Nov. 2, 1962.

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Except for two representatives of the Urban Renewal staff, city officials failed to respond to the invitation to attend the open meeting held in Des Moines. It appears that to date, no effective means of providing housing for the large family and the nonwhite family has been found in Des Moines. It seems to the Committee that they Mayor's Housing Action Committee is more interested in discovering ways in which local builders can make money than in meeting the problem presented by families who cannot afford the current rents. The statements made by the Mayor's Housing Committee, as quoted to the press, and the kind of projects it has suggested, seem to indicate little concern for the minority and low income groups affected by urban renewal. The actions of this group seem to indicate a hope that if the actual provision of houses for these families can be delayed long enough, the problem will go away or that something will happen to solve it. Having fought and helped to defeat the public housing referendum for Des Moines in 1962, which might have solved the problem of housing for low-income families, the realtors and builders fought a proposed open-occupancy municipal ordinance which also might have helped to provide housing for these families. An open-occupancy ordinance was drawn up at the direct of the City Council. It came up for action by the Council during the 1963 campaign for election to the Council. Each of the four successful candidates took a stand against an open-occupancy housing ordinance as did those who were defeated. The open-occupancy ordinance was rejected by the Council in spite of the fact that it had accepted an open-occupancy provision in 1959 in the city's Urban Renewal tracts.9 It rejected open-occupancy in spite of widespread backing by such groups as the Board of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters, the Greater Des Moines Ministerial Association, and a group of prominent lawyers who sought to answer the City Council's concern about the legality of the ordinance. Some members of the Council even asserted that Negroes did not want open-occupancy. The failure of passage of the open-occupancy ordinance leaves the people who are less able to find housing still in need. Around the first of November 1962,10 __________ 9. Editorial, Des Moines Tribune, Sept. 25, 1963. 10. Des Moines Tribune, Nov. 2, 1962. 11