Legislation assists low cost, community building programs

Lëgislatiön assists low cost. cominiinitv building program 8 j, ê (Continued fram page5) Principal City Planner Stephen Osborn, moderator of the meeting. Thirty years ago a small group of University gradúate student s cooperatively built five houses in their spare time. The speakers agreed that it takes more than money and idealism to get such a project off the ground. "You need people who have roots in the community and an obvious dedication that this type of project is going to be carried through," said Gotting. The Corporation must have expertise, preseverance and discipline, he added. He also stressed the need for a "benevolent dictator" to oversee the project. "It's not a game I would advise anyone to get into unless he intends to put his shoulder to the wheel and keep it there a long time," said Dr. Peter Ostafin, Associate Director of University Housing. Ostafin presented plans for a low-cost housing complex in Ann Arbor sponsored by the University Credit Union. He described the project as innovative, created with a regard for open space and an effort to hide eyesores like parking lots. The proposed development would include both a high-rise apartment building for students and clusters of smaller buildings for families, he said. The planners hope to build the complex at Glacier and Huron Parkway, Ostafin added. The project has been rejected by the Housing Authority, Ostafin claimed, because it was "too rich for their blood." "We want to be able to develop a site large enough to exploit new innovations," he said, "but (the Housing Authority) says that it doesn't look like low-cost housing to them." He explained that the Housing Authority favors cutting costs by building on cheaper land and including above-ground parking lots. The sponsors are now . looking to University Housing for funds. The panel stressed the importance of not only racial integration, but also social, economie, and age balance within low-cost housing projects. Low-cost developments can now include more elabórate units at market prices under Section 236 of the Federal National Housing Act. Brown expressed hope that this would attract people with higher incomes into the projects. Ideally, he said, the sponsors themselves will move into the project to help achieve this balance, as is the case with some members of Edgewood Church. -