Memorandum to Secretary Weaver on the Need for a Pilot Program To Stimulate Private Enterprise in Low-Income Housing

Note: The pilot program recommended by the Committee involved a modification of the "Turnkey" plan under which local public housing authorities contract with private developers to build a project. Under the "Turnkey" plan the completed project is managed by the housing authority. Under the plan as modified the authority would also let contracts for the management of the property.

The Committee stated its belief that the cost and some of the prejudice against public housing might be reduced as professional management techniques were brought to bear on the projects. It also believed that the introduction of competing private management techniques might encourage greater flexibility in the management methods of local housing authorities.

The Committee's report, in the form of a memorandum for the President from the Chairman, Edgar F. Kaiser, is printed in full in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 3, p. 1166).
For the President's statement upon appointing the Committee, and for a list of its members, see Item 252.

On September 12, 1967, a news briefing was held for reporters on the low-income housing program by Robert C. Weaver, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Special Assistant to the President (3 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 1278). At the briefing Secretary Weaver reported that he expected to double the number of low-income housing units that would be available during the next 12 months.