European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 23, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes monday november 23,1987 James Kilpatrick Federal housing Iii rests on shaky foundation on nov. 9 the House of representatives approved a $30 billion Bill to finance the government s housing programs for the next two years. The vote was 391-1.ut s hear it for rep. Philip Crane of Illinois he was the Only member with the guts to vote against pro Grams thai never should have been started m the first place and ought to be phased out now. Crane stands on old fashioned conservative principles. The Constitution authorizes Congress to impose taxes in order to provide for the general Wel fare. Crane leans heavily on that word general he lakes the forthright View that subsidized housing for individual families exceeds the constitutional limitation. A Federal Grant that subsidizes a private devel oper in Crane s View is simply improper private developers should line up their own capital. Any such gospel amounts to heresy on Capitol  a score of programs that Bear Little relation ship to the general welfare Congress has contributed mightily to a situation in which the Federal debt in creases and personal responsibility declines. The hous ing programs Are popular. No one denies it. But people Are appalled by Federal deficits. They ask. How did we get in this Fin consider this 130 billion baby. This is now we got in this fix. The Bill would appropriate $15 billion in this fiscal year and 115.6 billion in the next year for Urban and Rural housing programs. Roughly half the Money would go for assisting Low income families with their housing needs. The government now owns and oper Ellen Goodman ales 1.4 million Public housing units. The Bill would provide $689 million to build 10,000 More. The Mea sure provides housing vouchers More or less in the fashion of food Stamps thai Are Good for five years. In the first fiscal year 74,000 such vouchers will be is sued. About 900,000 vouchers and certificates Are out standing. They average $3,400 per unit per year the Bill deals with housing for the elderly and handicapped housing for indians housing for farm families it deals with rehabilitation and restoration of housing. Ii involves congregate homing Tor the aged. One provision would allocate $50.000 to create a National code Tor modular housing. The Federal govern ment May have some residual responsibility for the i Indian tribes but what of the rest what business does the Federal government have in the housing business not All of the Bill deals with housing. Over the Strong objection of the president the Bill would continue Community development Block Grants $3 billion each year and Urban development action Grants s225 minion each year. Surely Community developments might properly be regarded As Community responsibilities but no. Few lobbies Are More demand ing or More politically potent than the municipalities clamouring for the Federal Dollar. The action Grants Dags have taken on a life of their own. Since the program began 10 years ago the government has poured s4.4 billion into 2,860 projects in 1,180 cities. Defenders of the Grants Point out thai the Federal subsidies have triggered 127.3 billion i private investment. That sounds great but would the investments have been made without the Federal seed Money the que lion is unanswerable. By Way of example the City of Cudahy. Calif pop. 18,000 won a Grant of si.4 million to assist a Developer in constructing a grocery store and associated shops. Canon City Colo. Pop. 13,000 got $410,000 to help the Flo master division of Porter ivc. Add to its manufacturing space. In Florida the City of Lakeland pop. 47,000 got $4.7 million toward construction of a 1,400-car parking facility and a shopping Center. How did these get to be responsibilities of the Federal government Cleveland pop. 600.000 is one of the great cities of this nation. 11 plainly does not Lack for private capital. Cleveland in t broke. But when municipalities lined up at the trough in september when this year s Dags were announced Cleveland s name led All the rest. The City walked away with half a dozen Grants. One was for $850,000 to assist in developing a neigh boyhood shopping Center in the Glenville area. Another amounted to $7.7 million toward an office building at 14th and Euclid. A third was for 9 sep wow of i know this is of easy and behold. Expected from the reverend Van Winkle of the Republican party. The Man who by the Way wan nothing but unctuous welcomes from his opponent in the debate last month. For the Sake of the Economy Robertson says we need to Breed Chil Dren to become workers and taxpayers How will a shrinking work Force Lake care of the elderly we must have Mare children to expand the work  for the Sake of foreign policy we need to Breed children lest we see a worldwide population decline in our our culture and our  Robertson seems to regard the Uter us As a National resource. This is j Point of View not necessarily shared by those who Harbor this part of the Anat omy. His entrepreneurial ideas about in creasing american productivity in the human department Are predictably chilling. One of the management tools he favors is a ban on abortion. Another plan would make birth control leu available. As he said in Vermont he d veto any budget that gave even one Penny to planned parenthood an organization whose mainstay is offering contraception. This is one Way to be come a founding father. The Robertson birth policy is even More retrograde when he makes plans for the mothers who actually produce the Liny taxpayers. He is opposed to one class of women at Home with Chil Dren those on welfare. He is however Happy to pay any middie class married women a lax deductible Reward to slay Home with them. Someone might Tell reverend Robertson that among those Western democratic values that he is afraid will Wither on an infertile Vine Are the values of individual Choice. We Don t have children for the fatherland or the work Force but for the love of family. Another Western democratic value is Equality. Surely one of the reasons for the Law birth rate is that women carry the larger Burden of caring for children. Pat is not the Only Man of the traditional Stripe who Ever left Al a crucial Lime. Today this candidate s family policy is about As Remote from the rial world of pregnancy and child raising As the isolated Island in Canada. 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