To ensure continuing Government attention to rural created both a special Cabinet-level Rural Development "As we look to the future patterns of national growth, we must never forget that the prosperity, the vitality and the character of rural America are essential cornerstones of our Nation's balanced growth. It is essential that rural America receive its proper share of our attention--and I am determined that this shall be the case. * * "BETTER HOUSING FOR ALL "As I have stated many times, this Administration will not waver from the Federal commitment first outlined in the Housing Act of 1949: 'a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.' "The state of America's housing will continue to depend on the state of America's economy more than on any other factor. The forces of the marketplace are the forces that count the most-families with sufficient real income and sufficient confidence to create an effective demand for better housing on the one hand, and builders and credit institutions able to respond to that demand on the other. "The Federal Government must play a major supporting role through its actions in the mortgage credit market and its help for low income families who need assistance in obtaining adequate housing. "Last September, as credit for housing was becoming increasingly scarce, the Administration acted to make more credit available to home buyers. Recently, mortgage market conditions have begun to improve. However, to assure continuing improvement, I recently authorized a reduction in the maximum allowable interest rate for mortgages insured by the FHA, the Farmer's Home Administration and VA--a more than $6 billion mortgage insurance program that will assist in financing the construction of up to 200,000 housing units. "These actions should have a favorable impact on housing production. If the anticipated results are not fully achieved I will recommend further action to ensure a reasonable level of production. "In the last five years a substantial effort has been made to address the country's housing problems: Largely because of a general upswing in the economy, housing production has occurred at record levels. FHA mortgage insurance has enabled nearly 3-1/2 Over two million units of subsidized housing for low Over $1.4 billion has been committed to improving Subsidies to local housing authorities have grown from $33 million in 1969 to $350 million in 1974. "Even as good housing has become a reality for most Americans, it is clear that important problems still exist. Two are especially significant. First, our credit institutions often encounter problems in providing adequate housing credit. Second, too many low income families are unable to obtain adequate housing--even as good housing sits vacant in their community. We must help them to meet their needs. "In order to increase the availability of housing for all families, I urge passage during this session of two key measures I have already proposed: The Financial Institutions Act to enable savings and loan associations to compete more effectively for funds during periods of tight money, as well as to encourage 587-271 O-75-24 increased investment in housing through a tax credit on income earned from residential mortgages. The Administration's proposed Housing Act which would ease the present tight mortgage credit situation and make homeownership easier in the long term by: Authorizing increases in the permissible mortgage Permitting home buyers to pay market interest rates on FHA and VA insured mortgages, and reducing the cost of buying a home by doing away with the present system of charging points on mortgage loans. Authorizing on an experimental basis more flexible repayment plans on FHA insured mortgages. Authorizing more flexible interest rates, longer "This legislation would extend authority for extensive experiments with a new approach--direct cash assistance--for addressing the housing problem of low income American families. Despite the commitment of over $66 billion, evidence has clearly shown that the subsidized housing programs for low income familites have not worked well. Instead of programs to treat symptoms, I will continue to press for a longer term solution-which goes to the root of the problem--lack of sufficient income-and which permits the private housing market to work in as efficient a way as possible. Additionally, this legislation would improve the operation of our existing public housing projects, by helping them move to a more effective, efficient and self-sufficient basis of operation. Reading List 1. Brekman, Peter. The Limits of Protest. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970. 2. Brown, Frederick J., LTC, USA. "The Army and Society." Military Review, March 1972, pp. 3-17. 3. Fort, Joel. Alcohol: Our Biggest Drug Problem. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973. 4. Graham, James J. The Enemies of the Poor. New York: Random House, 1970. 5. Klein, Alexander. Dissent, Power and Confrontation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971. 6. Packard, Vance Oakley. A Nation of Strangers. New York: McKay, 1972. 7. Peabody, Malcolm E. "A New Way to House the Poor: Housing Allowances. The New Republic, March 9, 1974, pp. 20-23. 8. Reichman, Louis C. Issues 4: Critical Questions for the 70's. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Glencoe Press, 1972. 9. U.S. National Commission onthe Causes and Prevention of 10. Westin, Alan F. "The Problem of Privacy and Security with Computerized Data Collection." The Conference Board Record, March 1974, pp. 31-34. 11. Will, Robert Erwin. Poverty in Affluence: The Social, Political and Economic Dimensions of Poverty in the United States. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1970. WESTERN EUROPE The events of the fall of 1973 focused world attention on the Middle East but Europe continued to be of primary U.S. interest. U.S.-European relations were strained by the energy crisis and by disagreement over the degree of cooperation which should exist between the U. S. and the European communities on economic matters, the work of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) proceeded and the debate over Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR) continued. For your background information on Western Europe, Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger's address, "The United States and a Unifying Europe: The Necessity for Partnership, made before the Pilgrims of Great Britain at London on December 12, 1973, follows: "I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you this evening because, like most Americans, I am seized by a mixture of pride and terror when invited to appear before a British audience. In my particular case, and without any reflection on this distinguished assemblage, it is probably more terror than pride; for there is no blinking the fact--it is there for all to hear--that my forebears missed the Mayflower by some 300 years. "Our two peoples have been more closely associated than any other two nations in modern history--in culture and economics, in peace and in war. We have sometimes disagreed. But the dominant theme of our relationship in this century has been intimate alliance and might creations. "In 1950, while the Atlantic alliance was considering a continuing political body, my great predecessor Dean Acheson spoke to this society. Describing the travails of creation, Acheson noted that a 'strange and confusing dissonance has crowded the trans-Atlantic frequencies.' But he added that this 'dissonance flows from the very awareness that difficult decisions must be made and is a part of the process of making them.' "Again today America and Western Europe find themselves at a moment of great promise and evident difficulty, of renewed efforts to unite and old problems which divide. It is a time of both |