Cooperative Housing

Report Outline
Cooperatives and the Housing Problem
Experience Under Cooperative Housing
Federal Assistance to Cooperatives
Special Focus

Cooperatives and the Housing Problem

Acceptance by the present Congress, after three years of controversy, of a long-range program to meet the housing needs of low-income families has spurred a movement for additional legislation to deal with housing problems of families of moderate means. Even before the long-range housing bill, with its elaborate public housing provisions, became law on July 15, new housing legislation to assist families with incomes of $2,500 to $4,000 a year had been introduced by Chairman Spence (D., Ky.) of the House Banking and Currency Committee and Sen. Spark-man (D., Ala.). The bill is not an administration measure, although many of its provisions carry administration endorsement.

The most controversial feature of the Spence-Sparkman bill, Title III, proposed direct long-term government loans to housing cooperatives. It was eliminated, along with direct loans to veterans, before the bill passed the House late in August. The direct-loan feature is included, however, in the middle-income housing bill favorably reported by the Senate Banking and Currency Committee and now awaiting action by the upper chamber.

In its original form, Title III proposed direct loans at three per cent interest for periods up to 60 years (reduced by the Senate Banking and Currency Committee to 50 years) to housing cooperatives setting maximum income limits for occupants and establishing rent schedules below the rentals charged for comparable privately-financed accommodations. A Senate committee amendment would require participants in a cooperative to accumulate an equity investment of five per cent in the project, over and above amortization payments, during the first five years.