SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas, Chairman HENRY M. JACKSON, Washington KARL E. MUNDT, South Dakota WALTER L. REYNOLDS, Chief Clerk and Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS SAM J. ERVIN, JR., North Carolina JOSEPH M. MONTOYA, New Mexico KARL E. MUNDT, South Dakota DAVID B. WALKER, Staff Director ARNOLD H. RAPHAELSON, Professional Staff Member DEE CRAVEN, Assistant Chief Clerk CONTENTS Hon. John Sparkman, U.S. Senator from Alabama.... Hon. Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator from New York. Report of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations on William G. Colman, Executive Director, Advisory Commission on Inter- governmental Relations; accompanied by Norman Beckman, Assistant Director for Metropolitan Areas; and Albert J. Richter, Senior Analyst.- Curtis Aller, Director, Office of Manpower, Automation, and Training, Department of Labor; accompanied by Margaret Dahm, Special Assist- ant to the Administrator, Bureau of Employment Security; and Edith N. Cook, Associate Solicitor for Legislation__ Report of the Department of the Interior on S. 1681. Lewis A. Sigler, Assistant Legislative Counsel, Department of the Interior; accompanied by David B. Finnegan, attorney, Legislative Counsel's George S. Bullen, assistant to the vice president for legislation, National Hon. Chuck Hall, mayor, Dade County, Fla., representing the National Ross D. Davis, Executive Administrator, Small Business Administration; Joe E. Moody, General Counsel, General Services Administration; accom- panied by Robert T. Davis, Director of Legislation; and William Hon. William B. Widnall, Member of Congress, Seventh Congressional James Drought, assistant administrator for development, Boston Re- development Authority, speaking on behalf of Hon. John F. Collins, mayor of the city of Boston, the United States Conference of Mayors, and the National League of Cities--- Hon. Edward F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts--- Lawrence Jones, Deputy Federal Highway Administrator, Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Commerce; accompanied by Edgar H. Swick, Director, Office of Right of Way and Location; and Dowell H. Anders, Clarence Mitchell, director, Washington Bureau, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People--- Harry W. Reynolds, Jr., chairman, Center for Urban Studies, Municipal University of Omaha, Nebraska_- Robert W. Hendricks, vice president and chairman, Public Affairs Com- mittee, Society of Real Estate Appraisers; accompanied by James V. Morgan, executive vice president; and Jerry C. Davis, staff vice presi- dent and director of public affairs--- Timothy J. McCarthy, chief counsel, Providence Redevelopment Agency, Hon. Theodore R. McKeldin, mayor of the city of Baltimore, Md. (orally presented by Richard L. Steiner, director, Urban Renewal and Housing Robert L. Free, president, American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, on behalf of the National Association of Real Estate Boards; accom- panied by John C. Williamson, director, government relations, Na- tional Association of Real Estate Boards, and secretary-counsel, Wash- COMMUNICATIONS AND STATEMENTS Julian D. Steele, deputy commissioner, Department of Commerce and Development, Division of Urban Renewal, Commonwealth of Massachu- Hon. James H. J. Tate, mayor of Philadelphia_ Perry E. Willits, president, National Association of Home Builders. John D. Lange, executive director, National Association of Housing & Frederick P. Kopp, chairman, Special Subcommittee on Compensation for Real Property Acquisition, National Forest Products Association_- Nathaniel S. Keith, president, National Housing Conference, Inc.- Herbert J. Chernis, president, Eastern Baking Co., Inc.-. A. B. Kettle, executive vice president, Austin-Hastings Co., Inc.. Chester W. Hartman, staff associate, MIT-Harvard Joint Center for William N. Kinnard, Jr., SRA, MAI, professor of finance and real estate; head Finance Department, School of Business Administration, Uni- UNIFORM COMPENSATION FOR RELOCATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1965 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 3302, New Senate Office Building, Senator Edmund S. Muskie (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senator Muskie. Staff members present: David B. Walker, staff director; Robert E. Berry, minority counsel; Arnold H. Raphaelson and Mark H. Freeman, professional staff members; and Dee Craven, assistant chief clerk. OPENING STATEMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN Senator MUSKIE. The hearing will be in order. I have an opening statement. Every year, the United States buys land or assists State and local governments in buying property for Federal projects or for use in grant-in-aid programs. Every year over the next several years, about 110,000 families and individuals, 18,000 businesses and nonprofit organizations, and 4,000 farm operators will have to move to make way for urban renewal, public housing, public roads, defense, NASA, Post Office, and other projects. The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, on which I serve as a member, expressed concern recently in a report which stated that these displaced persons and businesses may be bearing a "disproportionate share of the cost of the benefit created by the public works program necessitating their move." President Johnson, in his 1964 housing message to the Congress, declared that: The vast majority of those displaced by urban renewal and public housing have relocated in better and standard housing, but some have not ***. For some, the inconvenience of displacement has meant only another similar dwelling and likelihood of repeating this experience * * * *. Similarly, small businessmen-especially those in leased premises-often incur economic loss and hardship as a result of displacement by urban renewal or public housing which is not offset by current compensation practices and moving expense reimbursements. Compensation for these people forced to move by Federal projects and under federally aided programs is at present the subject of several uncoordinated sets of provisions. None of these with the possible exception of those for urban renewal and public housing-adequately recognizes the real impact of dislocation. It makes no sense that a person displaced by one type of Federal project may be eligible for relocation compensation and assistance, while some others may not. It 1 makes no sense that a person in one State may be compensated for a move because his State has authorized payment, while in a neighboring State a person may be forced to move under the same Federal grant program, without compensation. The inequities that result from these disparities among the programs should not be tolerated. The Federal Government should not, by the diversity of its programs, be the source of these inequities. Instead, we should have a uniform set of provisions to help families and individuals, businesses and organizations, and farmers avoid the human and economic disasters that can be created by forced relocation. The displaced should be fairly and equally treated. They should be assured of equal or better housing. And the lives of small businesses should be sustained. The burdens of relocation should not sound the death knell of small businesses or create unnecessary misery for displaced families. Extensive study, in hearings by the House Select Subcommittee on Real Property Acquisition, resulted in a thorough report on compensation and assistance for persons affected by real property acquisition in Federal and federally assisted programs. Further study by the Advisory Commission has resulted in a Commission report on the unequal treatment of people and businesses displaced by Government. The recommendations of these studies are implemented by the two bills we are considering in these hearings. S. 1681, which I introduced on April 1, would establish uniformity of relocation payments and advisory assistance programs for those displaced by Federal projects or under Federal grants. Compliance with these relocation requirements would be a condition of Federal grants to State and local governments. The bill would extend to all Federal grant programs the present urban renewal provision that no property acquisition project may proceed without available standard housing for all those displaced. Further, for federally aided programs, the bill would provide for relocation payments up to a maximum of $25,000 each, with full Federal reimbursement of this amount. This would permit payments up to $25,000 rather than the lower maximum amounts provided in the highway program, and would assure that relocation payments will be made in the 28 States where highway displacees are not now entitled to receive such payments. This bill is consistent in most respects with the goals of sections 107 through 118 and title IV of S. 1201, a bill introduced by Senator Sparkman on February 18. Senator Sparkman's bill, however, goes beyond the establishment of a uniform relocation policy. It is also concerned with: (1) uniform procedures in the appraisal and compensation for property taken for Federal programs; (2) the problems of taxation of gains which result from these forced sales of property; and (3) additional assistance under the Manpower Development and Training Act and under the Social Security Act provisions for unemployment compensation. Senator Sparkman's bill, then, is broader in its scope than S. 1681. The problems faced by those displaced by direct and indirect Federal action are substantial, and they are growing. Viable solutions to these problems should be important parts of the same programs which require that people and businesses move. There is a Federal obligation to treat these people and businesses uniformly. |