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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 9

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The Des Moines Register reported an interview with the Urban Renewal Relocation Director after he had met with the Mayor's Housing Action Committee as follows:

He said 256 families were relocated from the River Hills urban renewal area, but half moved to substandard housing and want better homes. [He] said there are still four families to be relocated from River Hills. He added that several hundred families will be displaced next year by the freeway and by housing code enforcement.

. . . the families involved have low incomes, are large, are from minority groups, and often are aged. Rentals for these people just aren't available. The real estate people haven't got a dozen vacancies they will rent to large families. They don't have them now and they haven't had them for five years. They just don't want people to rent to large families or to colored people.

The problem of relocating displaced families was intensified in 1961 when the voters in Des Moines defeated a proposal to establish a federal low-rent housing program. The city then established:

The Mayor's Housing Action Committee to develop low-rent housing under private enterprise. The committee's major assignment was to be sure there were homes available for families displaced by urban renewal projects and by the Des Moines Freeway.

The Committee Chairman . . . a real estate man, told the [city] council this week "many members of our committee feel that the urgent needs of relocation are accomplished . . . ." But the council's current housing code enforcement program has convinced some councilmen that help is needed to relocate families now living in substandard housing.8
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7. Nov. 16, 1962.

8. Ibid.


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7 The Des Moines Register reported an interview with the Urban Renewal Relocation Director after he had met with the Mayor's Housing Action Committee as follows: He said 256 families were relocated from the River Hills urban renewal area, but half moved to substandard housing and want better homes. [He] said there are still four families to be relocated from River Hills. He added that several hundred families will be displaced next year by the freeway and by housing code enforcement. . . . the families involved have low incomes, are large, are from minority groups, and often are aged. Rentals for these people just aren't available. The real estate people haven't got a dozen vacancies they will rent to large families. They don't have them now and they haven't had them for five years. They just don't want people to rent to large families or to colored people. The problem of relocating displaced families was intensified in 1961 when the voters in Des Moines defeated a proposal to establish a federal low-rent housing program. The city then established: The Mayor's Housing Action Committee to develop low-rent housing under private enterprise. The committee's major assignment was to be sure there were homes available for families displaced by urban renewal projects and by the Des Moines Freeway. The Committee Chairman . . . a real estate man, told the [city] council this week "many members of our committee feel that the urgent needs of relocation are accomplished . . . ." But the council's current housing code enforcement program has convinced some councilmen that help is needed to relocate families now living in substandard housing.8 ____________ 7. Nov. 16, 1962. 8. Ibid. 9