6
ORIGINAL HOUSING PLAN
Recommendations Submitted to Finance Committee, July, 1906
San Francisco, Cal., July 10, 1906.
James D. Phelan, Esq.,
Chairman Finance Committee.
Sir:—
The Finance Committee at its last meeting referred to the Rehabilitation Committee for consideration and report a proposition made in the Finance Committee by Mr. M. H. de Young that a donation be made to any workingman owning a lot in the burnt district of one-third of the value of the dwelling to be erected on it, this donation however, not to exceed in any case the sum of five hundred dollars, and to be paid, not to the lot owner, but to the contractor who builds the house when it is completed and clear of liens.
The Executive Commission has had under consideration various plans for acquiring tracts of land and building homes for sale or rental, one such plan having been referred to the Commission by the Finance Committee at its last meeting. The Executive Commission has also appointed, with the knowledge and approval of the Finance Committee, a consulting board of architects and builders who have placed their services at our disposal without compensation, both for expert counsel on general plans and for the making of suitable designs for dwellings which might be built by the Commission, or by individual lot owners.
Under these circumstances, both the Executive Commission and the Rehabilitation Committee have given careful consideration to this subject, and have held informal joint sessions in order that any recommendations made by this Committee might have the endorsement of both bodies, and might, if possible, be such as to secure the immediate favorable consideration of the Finance Committee. It is agreed on all sides that no time is to be lost if houses are to be made available before the winter season, and before the tents which are now in use are so dilapidated as to be uninhabitable.
The Rehabilitation Committee recommends the acceptance of the principle that workingmen and others of moderate means whose homes were destroyed by fire, who own lots in the burnt district, and who cannot obtain from banks, building and loan associations or other societies enough to rebuild without assistance, should be aided in rebuilding by a donation or loan from the relief fund. This policy involves no new action by the Finance Committee except the appropriation from time to time of such sums as may be required by the Rehabilitation Committee to carry it into effect. It is exactly in line with the work which that Committee was created to undertake. This Committee is therefore already endeavoring to ascertain how many applications are likely to be made for such donations or loans, and devising such safeguards as will protect the operation of the plan from the obvious abuses to which it might be subjected. If there are any conditions of such grants which the Finance Committee, or its members, would consider it desirable to call to our attention, it is suggested that this be done at the earliest possible moment; and if the Finance Committee disapproves the plan, that of course, should be indicated before any further steps are taken. As soon as the information is available, an estimate will be presented to the Finance Committee as to the amount of money which is required to carry this policy into effect. We consider it doubtful whether this plan, of itself, will go very far towards providing shelter for the families now in tents, but the time which has elapsed since the plan was proposed has not been sufficient to enable us to secure accurate information on this subject.
The Executive Commission on July 9th held a conference with the consulting Board of Architects and Builders, at which the Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Mayor, and some of the members of the Rehabilitation Committee were present, and the whole subject was exhaustively considered. The conclusion reached was that no one plan had been suggested which would completely solve the problem of housing the homeless families, but that immediate action is desirable in the following directions: