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A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELOCATION
PROCESS IN URBAN RENEWAL:

A CASE STUDY

BY
WILLIAM DOUGLAS FROM

AN ABSTRACT
Submitted to the College of Science and Arts of
Michigan State University of Agriculture and
Applied Science in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the
degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Sociology and Anthropology
1960

1 . Z .- . N _ ‘I
. / (1' I ,, , («1‘ ’ ’ , ..-’ 9 .~.
APProved ’ ,~,/,. ’(~ “ ‘

I
A, 1.1" \ L: 41—" MW‘
1 ‘/f

2
William D. Fromm

ABSTRACT

An important concern of urban planners today is the relocation
of urban renewal site residents. A stipulation of the federal govern-
ment states that before granting monies to cities for renewal purposes,
the municipality will provide for the relocation of site residents
in units which are "decent, safe and sanitary." This study is a
concerned with one such relocation program.in the city of Detroit,
Michigan.

It was the intent of this study to determine whether
displaced families relocated in housing better than that which they
left behind or whether they simply moved into other slum.housing;
whether relocation occurred in such a way as not to disturb the
prevailing ecological structure of the city or whether relocatees
settled randomly throughout the metr0politan area, and also to
determine if the Relocation Agency of the City of Detroit, whose
job it is to aid displaced persons in finding other units in which
to live, was fulfilling that function.

Data from the files of the Detroit Relocation Agency were
used in the testing of the hypotheses suggested in this thesis.

An analysis of these data revealed that relocated families did not
substantially better their housing and that relocation took place
in such a way as not to disturb existing ecological patterns. It
was also discovered that the Relocation Agency was not performing

the function it was created for, that of assisting families to

3
Abstract William D. Fromm
relocate, but merely acting as a stimulus in clearing the sites for
redevelopment.

A sociological study such as this can be undertaken to
determine the unplanned consequences of our planning policies. In
so doing, it can provide a basis for a more sophisticated inclusion
of social variables in planned social change, and a more rational

basis for the development of sociologically validated action models.

A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELOCATION
PROCESS IN URBAN RENEWAL:

A CASE STUDY

BY

WILLIAM DOUGLAS FROMM

A THESIS

Submitted to the College of Science and Arts of
Michigan State University of Agriculture and
Applied Science in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the
degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

1960

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my appreciation to the Relocation Agency
and the Housing Commission of the City of Detroit for allowing me
access to their files, and for being so helpful with the many
questions and problems I encountered while in the process of data
collection.

I want to express my special gratitude to Dr.-James MbKee
for taking time out from.his busy schedule to guide the research
and development of this thesis. ,

I.am.indebted to my wife Aldeen for her patience and
encouragement and to Mrs. Roy J. Starr for her excellent typing

of the final draft of this thesis.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page
I 0 INTRODUCTION 0 O O O O O O O O O C O O O O O O o 1
The Urban Slum 2
The Ecology of Slums 6
Urban Renewal - 9
The Process of Urban Planning a 12
Housing, Urban Renewal, and the Federal
Government 16
Relocation in Urban Renewal 22
I I 0 BACKGROUND DATA 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 2 4
Relocation in Chicago 24
Relocation in Little Rock 30
Summary of the Findings of the Studies 32
III. RELOCATION AS A SOCIOLOGICAL PROBLEM . . . . . . 34
Three Hypotheses for Researdh Methodology 36
The Area of Study 38
IV. THE ANALYSIS OF RELOCATION: THREE HYPOTHESES . 40
The Quality of Housing for Relocated
Families 40
The Pattern of Relocation in Detroit 42
The Functions of a Relocation Agency 47
V. CONCLUSION: SOME COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS . . 49
The Agency 49
The Slums 52
The People 54
Public Housing 56

Suggestions for Improving the Relocation
Process 57

Chapter

APPENDIX

THE RELOCATION AGENCY OF THE CITY OF DETROIT . . .

The Responsibility

The Relocation Advisory Committee

Detroit's Policies and Procedures for Locating,

Inspecting, and Referring Site Occupants to

Permanent Relocation Accommodations

Description of Methods for Making Inspections
and Certifying the Habitability of Housing
Accommodations Located by Site Families
or a Local Public Agency

Relocatee's Guide to House Hunting

Record Keeping

Sample of Form Letter Sent to Site Residents

BIBLIOGRAPI-IY O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

iv
Page
64
65
65
68

69

7o
74
76
80

82

CHAPTER I
INT RODUCTI ON

This thesis is a study in urbanism, but more-specifically,
a study of the work of community practitioners, notably the city
planners and other professionals associated with the improvement
of the urban environment. ‘Recently, sociologists havealso become
involved in these professional attempts to redesign and replan the
city, usually by assisting the citizen participation phase of urban
renewal.

.It should be noted here that these studies are intended
to promote urban renewal, from the professional's standpoint;
however, they-are not studies of the project itself, such as the
assessment of its consequences, its values or its results. This
thesis does study the consequences of such applied programs,
specifically, the relocation phase'which is extremely important.
Resettling of the site residents must be accomplished by the

locality as one of the requirements set forth by the federal

government before the granting of monies for renewal to the cities.

 

1Herbert A. Thelen, "Communication Among Neighbors Combats
Urban Blight," Etc., A Review of Genenil Semantics (Autumn, 1953):
Herbert A. Thelen, "Social Processes versus Community Deterioration";
Group’Psych0therapy, Vol. LV, No. 3 (December, 1951); Herbert A.
Thelen, ngamics of Groups at Work (Chicago: University of Chkzago
Press, 1954); Herbert A. Thelen and Bettie Belk Sarchet, Nei hbors
In Action, Human Dynamics Laboratory (University of Chicago, 1954;;
William C. Loring, Jr., Frank.L. Sweetser, and Charles F. Ernst,
Community Organization for Citizen Participation in Urban Renewal,
Housing Association of Metropolitan Boston (Boston, Massachusetts,
1957 .

2

Urban sociologists concern themselves, among other things,
with the blight which is affecting our cities, especially in their
central cores, which is often a factor in the tremendous flight to
the suburbs and outer areas. They are concerned with the
characteristiCs of the inner areas of the cities . . . of the low
income peOple, the minorities, the transiency, the high crime rates
and high costs of governmental services to these areas. Sociologists
and urban planners alike are concerned with slums and the effect

these "sore spots" have on the entire city.

The Urban Slum

- "'

The metropolitan areas of North America, and more specifically,
of the United States, are growing rapidly. One of the consequences
of this rapid growth is the ever increasing spread of slums. As
the city expands outward from its center, the results of several
waves of invasion and succession are seen in the movement of higher
status residence and associated commercial services to the newer
areas beyond the central cores. As the inner area is abandoned for
"greener grass" further out, people of lower status move in to
occupy the older section. A

For a definition of a slum, the author quotes from the
"Report on Urban Land Policies of the united Nations." A slum
has been defined as:

. . . a building, group of buildings, or area characterized

by over-crowding, deterioration, unsanitary conditions or

absence of facilities or amenities which, because of these
conditions or any of them, endanger the health, safety or

morals of its inhabitants or the community.2
Ecologically speaking, the slum may be an area of apparently
static character, surrounded by areas in the process of change.
Or, in time, it may be a habitation area in an interim position
between a former "better" use and a coming new use of the space.
Nels Anderson enumerates some of the characteristics of
slums:3

1. Appearance. This may be called a universal mark of the
slum; its aspect of neglect and disorder with respect to
buildings, yards, and streets. The appearance is generally
’one of structural over-age and decline.

2. Economic Status. Generally a slum is inhabitated by people
of the lowest income, although there may be occasional
buildings of equally run-down appearance inhabited by
families that are not so poor. In general, however, the
slum is a poverty area.

3. Overcrowding. We may find that the space is overcrowded
with buildings or the buildings may be overcrowded with
people, or both. .If the slum is "retreating" many
buildings may have declined until they are unsafe for
habitation, but there may be overcrowding in the buildings

still occupied. The uninhabited space may then be occupied

 

g2§222_9ang_£2%igigg, UN Secretariat, Document ST/SCA/9
(New York, April, 1952 , p. 200.

3Nels Anderson, The Urbgn COmmunity (New York: Henry Holt
and Co., 1959). p. 191.

4.

7.

by such unwelcome occupants as junkyards.

Population. In a slum of heterogeneous occupancy, many of
the inhabitants there are persons not welcome in other
residential areas, or they cannot afford to live elsewhere.
Thus, it may be a refuge area for the aged, the chronically
sick, the homeless, and the socially maladjusted. But such
"odds and ends" may not be welcome even in some slums where
a "sense of community" exists. If the slum population is
racial or cultural, it may have a degree of social
organization. It is a poverty area, slumlike in appearance.
Health and Sanitatigg, For understandable reasons, when
compared with other areas of residence, the slum is
characterized by low standards of sanitation. The slum is
often most neglected by the public services for sanitation.
For mixed reasons, it may also be an area of high sickness
and death rates.

Morals._ The slum may be an area of delinquency, crime, and
vice, but this is more likely to be true of the socially
disorganized slum. While such a slum may not be the habitat
of "successful" criminals, it may be the habitat of marginal
types or the hiding place of fugitive criminals. Vice may
be found in the slum, but it is, by no means, confined to
the slums.

way of Life. Slums differ widely with respect to the social
organization of their inhabitants. They range from the slum

in which the inhabitants are strangers to one another, and

9.

10.

wish to be; to the family slum in which there is wide
acquaintance between the inhabitants. Slums inhabited by
immigrant groups may have a firm social organization.
Social Isolation. While every residential area within

the modern city tends to be socially isolated from others,
partly by choice and partly by location, the slum is
especially so. It is the area of lowest status and this
is known to slum dwellers. Their chief link with the rest
of the community is their identification with the labor
market, but there may be an additional link through politics.
Slum dwellers function equally with others as citizens and
as they are able to identify themselves with political
groups.

Mobility. The slum is usually an area of high residential
mobility, but a family-occupied slum may have a low rate
of residential mobility. The high mobility of slum
inhabitants is more true of American than European cities.
Perhaps the most mobile is the slum occupied mainly by
homeless males, especially itinerant workers.

Slum Permanency. In the rapidly growing American city
some areas once occupied by slums are later occupied for
other purposes. The "removed" slum emerges elsewhere,
perhaps to be replaced still later by another occupancy.
These shifts may be in response to related changes due to

urban growth.

The Ecology of Slums

By examining two theories of urban growth, notably those
of Ernest Burgess4mand Homer Hoyt,5 one begins to see more clearly
how ecological explanations of city.expansion clarify the develop-
ment of slum areas.

Developed in the early twenties to explain the ecological
processes in the city, Burgess's theory conceived the city as a
series of five concentric zones. At the core is his "loop" district
with its sh0pping areas, its theater districts, its hotels, its
office buildings, and the other businesses which seek a central
location. In small communities these business functions intermingle;
in the large cities they form more or less distinct subdistricts.

Next to the "loop" and extending out into the next-zone
are the city's commercial functions. In this area are found the
market districts and the older wholesale districts and warehouses.
Cutting across this and the remainder of outer zones along the
railroad rights of way and forming long wedge-like areas are the
bigger industrial sections of the city.

The second zone which Burgess describes, is called the
"zone of transition." It is identified by the variety and changing
Character of uses. This is the area where the residential areas

commence. In some sections, there are extremely old homes, in.others,

 

4Ernest W. Burgess, "The Growth of the City," in R. E. Park
gt al. (eds.), The City (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1925).

5Homer Hoyt, The Structure and Growth of Residential
Neighborhoods in American Cities, Federal Housing Administration
(washington, D. C., 1939).

large old apartment houses. Some sections are Characterized by
rooming and tenement houses. The second zone blends into the third
consisting mostly of working men's homes, factory workers, etc.

Burgess's fourth zone is where the white-collar workers and
middle class families reside. He calls his fifth ring, the commuter's
zone. This is where the-suburban communities are found, the upper
and middle income groups.

As growth proceeds, each zone of the diagram tends to invade
the neXt outer zone following what the human ecologist refers to
as 'invaSion-succession."6 Figure 1 briefly deScribes the process.

A decade later, Homer Hoyt's study of residential areas in
the United States provided a new perspective on the patterning of
land uses and led to a theoretical explanation of residential land
uses in terms of wedge-shaped sectors radial to the city's center
along established lines of transportation. The sector theory thus
provides a more detailed explanation of residential patterns of land
use than set forth in the concentric zone theory. Hoyt's explanation
holds that the different income classes of a city tend to be found

in distinct areas describable in terms of sectors of a circle

 

6Invasion is the interpenetration of one population group
or use area by another, the difference between the new and old
being economic, social or cultural.

Succession occurs when the new population group or use types
finally displace the former occupants or uses of the area.

See F. Stuart Chapin, Jr., Urban Land Use Plagning (New
York: Harper and Bros., 1957}; p. 27.

Step

Step

Step

Step

Step

Step

FIGURE 1

INVASION AND SUCCESSION AS'A

CYCLE OF CHANGE7

Equilibrium in the district, marked by lack of awareness
on the part of the inhabitants of any invasion by an
an alien group.

Disequilibrium arising from the flight of several upper-
strata members of the community. This flight is in
response to rumors of invasion.

The creation of new restrictive covenants or reinforcement
of dormant covenants following from these rumors.

The rush invasion by the in-migrants to exploit the outa
posts established earlier.

Reintegration of the area as the alien group acquires
cumulative_power. Mass exodus of the old occupants takes
place at this level.

Change of community status. The new occupants organize
and dominate the area. Thus orderly succession and a new
equilibrium has taken place.

 

Company, 1954), p. 155 and pp. 215416.

7E. Gordon Ericksen, Urban Behavior (New York: The Macmillan

9
centered on the central business district.8 Figure 2 presents a

simple, graphic representation of the two theories.
Urban Renewal

Despite the fact that slums are universally condemned, they
continue to exist. They not only exist, but they are thriving and
growing and are threatening to destroy the pattern of urban living
itself. It is this threat of the slums to urban life whiCh has
brought about increased recognition of urban planning. More and
more, cities are ad0pting community master plans which are created
for the purpose of guiding the orderly growth of the city and its
surrounding area so that new slums will not develop. The ultimate
object of making plans for the growth of the city is to make
certain that city life, in the future, is as pleasant and enjoyable
as is humanly possible. The ideal, of course, is to build the city
anew, but this, on the contrary, is not really possible in most
cases. The next best thing to do is to prevent further uncontrolled
growth and start planning. Of course, existing slums cannot be left
intact. The probable cause must be detected and destroyed and
preventative measures put into operation. Many times, because
of the tremendous cost involved, conservation techniques must be
applied instead of complete redevelopment.

Because of the relative unfamiliarity that most non-planners

 

81bid.,' p. 76.

FIGURE 2

GENERALIZED EXPLANATIONS OF THE
LAND USE PATTERNS OF CITIES.*

1. Central Buxiness District.
2. Zone of Transition.

3. Zone of Workingmen's Homes.
4. Zone of Better Residences

5. Commuter's Zone.

CONCENTRIC ZONE THEORY

1. Central Business District. .
2. Wholesale Light Manufacturing.
3. Low-class Residential. '
4. .Mediumsclass Residential.

5. High-class Residential.

 

*

SECTOR THEORY

' Source: Chauncy D. Harris and Edward L. Ullman,

Nature of Cities,"
and Social Scigncg

- o
Nevember, 1945 .

Ac

0 P

10

 

 

N m.
tic

ll
have*with planning terms, it is believed best to define the terms
used above.

Redevelopment can be defined as the complete rebuilding
of an area after razing. This is the most expensive operation of
renewal.

ggnpgxyggipn_is the arresting of decay before it gets a
start or right after it is recognized. Often this is done through
the use of ordinances and laws. Conservation is usually done while
the neighborhood is in a fairly stable stage-and not when it can
be classified as a slum. Conservation is, more or less "preventative
maintenance."

Rehabilitation is another planning term which can mean a
complete renewal of an area, but more often, it means partial
"face lifting."

Ugban Renewal is inclusive of all techniques and terms of
the rebuilding of an area within a metropolitan boundary. Because
of the expense involved, the term "urban renewal" when used by
government officials, at least at the local level, usually excludes
completeeredevelopment.

Urban renewal has been going on since cities have existed
and flourished. However, in the years since World war II, the term
has assumed a more specialized meaning and has come to be associated
-with the prevention and elimination of blight. Urban renewal is
not realized without great difficulty, for there are many problems
”with-which the urban planner must contend.

At this point, it may be useful-to examine urban

p," fi/VI/AV/K/‘f, (:7

a 1...;

[N’.$0/h5 DEFZZ/i

12

planning in some little detail.

The Process of Urban Planning

According to the 1950 census about two out of every three
inhabitants of our country live in urban areas ranging in size from
2500 persons to 10 million. Each day our cities and urban areas
are becoming more populated and in every way more congested. The
social consequences of such concentration is a major concern to the
urban planners as well as the residents.

Many of the problems created by our cities, as many authorities
have pointed out, resulted and will continue to result from the lack
of foresight displayed by the builders and creators of the legal
monstrosities called urban communities. What remains to be done
is sometimes a highly confused issue. Many of the administrators
themselves are not united in what they believe should be done, not
to speak.of the way it should be accomplished.

In the past lay people concerned themselves with problems
of the city and its inhabitants, but recently a new science called
urban or city planning has evolved. This new science attempts to
produce some answers to the problems of slums, congestion, and
the general conditions of urban sprawl.

City or urban planning, as the author will use the term
-throughout the rest of this thesis, is that science which, in its
asimplest sense, can be defined as intelligent forethought applied

to the development of the community.9 Actually city planning is

 

9Cit Plannin and Urban Develo ment (U.S. Chamber of

Commerce, Washington, D C., 1952 , p. 5.

l3
that-Which is applied only within the corporate limits of a city
and urban planning is that which is applied to the city and its
immediate surrounding area, but for the sake of clarity the author
will use one or the other to assume the meaning of the latter.

To put even the simplest city plan into operation a master
plan is required. This master plan is merely an outline which is
used as a simple guide for the direction of the orderly growth of
the area. It is usually given its legal basis by state statute
and is set in operation by the city, county, regional or joint
office. This master plan is almost always composed of at least
several maps and overlays together with reports regarding population
studies, land use and zoning studies, plus reports and supporting
material for the guiding of intended future growth of the community.
Planning is or should be concerned with the platforms and programs
which, after prOper approval, form the skeleton upon which the orderly
growth of the community is planned and motivated. Of course, all
attempts are not fully realized.

Planning, itself, is not a recent development, as many
‘well-informed people think. Cities such as Rome and Washington,

D. C. were planned. However, most cities simply grew and expanded
in an uncontrolled manner. The planning profession is only now
being recognized as an important and necessary function. Originally,
the job of planning was supposedly done well enough by a planning
commission composed of non-professionals, but modern society demands
more of a professional body now: the professionally trained urban

planner.

14

The people who are concerned with guiding the orderly
development of a city need to consider not only the "pretty picture"
aspects of a city graphically portrayed on some city hall wall,
but with also the noise, smoke, odors, public health, morals and
public welfare‘which always are present concerns where people are
present in any numbers. Planners of not too long ago were not so
worried about these "incidentals." They believed that if the city
were made beatuiful these things would take care of themselves.
Today, however, most planners have some training in the social
sciences, and recognize social as well as physical functions in
planning.

In putting plans into operation there are two organs of
government responsible for the planning function. These are the
planning commission and the planning staff. The commission is an
outgrowth of unofficial citizens' groups and committees which
emerged to take care of the numerous problems arising in early
government. It has been the traditional form of organization adopted
by municipalities in setting up official planning agencies. Members
of the commission are usually laymen from the various representative
groups throughout the city.

What are the duties of the commission and how do these
duties relate to the ones carried out by the planning staff? The
duties of the commission are in summary as follows:

1. To.develqp and maintain a complete or general plan for a
municipality.

council.

15

To review and make recommendations on all decisions by
other agencies dealing with the subject matter of the
community plan;

To review and take action on all subdivision plots and
other developments which involve the extension or enlarge“
ment of the city's developed area.

To prepare the zoning regulations and review and make
recommendations on all amendments thereto.

To review and act on special exceptions permitted under
zoning which involve major land uses.

To develop general plans and review all specific properties
dealing with urban redevelopment where such a program is
being undertaken by the municipality.

To prepare and review the capital improvement program where
such a program is being undertaken in accordance with the
comprehensive plan.10

The planning commission is usually responsible to the city

council and must have all plans approved by it before they can go
ahead with any significant programs. Some things of a minor nature
do not have to be approved, but if challenged by a civic group or

single person its plans can be overruled by the action of the

Cases like this usually involve things like zoning

changes, permits for businesses and the like.

The planning staff is composed of a number of professional

 

lOIbid., p. 16.

16
people who are trained in drafting, graphics, mapping, economics,
and sometimes sociology although the latter is only now gaining
recognition by planners. Staffs may vary in size from two or three
to thirty or forty. The staff undertakes various studies to
determine the city‘s needs as a basis for planning. It prepares
maps, reports and recommendations and submits them to the planning
commission for approval.

Much social data and sociological thought are used by the
urban planners in the preparation and application of their plans.
But their.own work, as a practical application of theory, and the
results of their ideas and plans have rarely been tested. This
thesis is one such test.

HousingI Urban RenewalI and the
Federal Government

While it has long been recognized that slums are a detriment
to the welfare of the city, very little was done before the 1930's
to prevent or impede their growth, with the exception of a few
unenforcible ordinances and laws.

Although efforts toward the elimination of blight in American
cities were slow and cumbersome, the federal government has a long
history of involvement in and support for slum clearance. The
federal government's first action was taken in 1892 when Congress

passed legislation to provide the sum of $20,000 for an investigation

17

of slums in cities of 200,000 or more.11

Nothing significant was done until WOrld war I when housing
was provided for employees in the nation‘s shipyards. The United
States Housing Corporation was established by executive order of
the President during WOrld War I for handling the construction of
war housing and rent grievances.

In 1931, President Hoover called the President's Conference
on Homebuilding and Home Ownership. This was followed in July, 1932,
‘with the passage of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, which provided
authority to make advances to all types of lending institutions for
promotiOn of home ownership.12

In the 1930's, there was hope that the construction of public
housing units for low income families would completely eliminate
slums. In 1932, the Emergency Relief and Construction Act authorized
the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make loans to corporations
to provide housing for low income families. However, only two
loans *were made under this law. Two reasons given for this failure
were that there’was inadequate return on investments and the housing,
itself, was beyond the means of the families who needed such help.

In 1933 the National Industrial Recovery Act provided

federal funds to finance low-cost,housing, slum clearance, and

 

11Your Congress and American Housing--Th§ Actions of Congress
on Housing, 1892-1951, House Document No. 532, 82nd Congress, 2nd

Session (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1952), p. l.

1’2Glenn H. Beyer, Houging: A Fagtual Analysis (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1958), p. 241.

18
subsistence homesteads. The reason for this act was the need for
creating jobs and not the need for adequate housing. Fifty projects

.were built with the help of this act.13 The 36,600 units

consequently constructed did not, however, Substantially take care
of the needs of the lowest income families, as is evidenced‘byi’
the fact that slum growth was not thwarted to any extent in the
Thirties, and even into the Forties.

The housing legislation of 1949 was the beginning-of modern
urban renewal and authorized a much broader housing program. This
legislation authorized grants and loans to be made to local public
agencies which-were authorized to carry out a slum clearance program.
The federal government was authorized to meet up to two thirds.of
the cost in buying, clearing and preparing slum land for redevelop-
-ment. This legislation has specified that all families facing
displacement from redevelopment sites must be provided with "decent,
safe and sanitary" housing at a price they-can afford to pay and
within reasonable distances from their place of employment. This
meant that private rental and.public housing was available to them.
The 1954 legislation extends this requirement to conservation.and
rehabilitation projects. Relocation payments could, at that time,
be as high as $100 per family and up to $2,500 for commercial

 

establishments.14 The total amount of relocation payments is met
13m” p. 247 .
14

The 1958 housing legislation increased the amount to
$200 per family.

19
by the federal government. Accurate records of family placements
must be kept as evidence of compliance with the relocation feature
of the law.

In 1956, the important Section 221, dealing with relocation
housing, was added. Section 221 is a mortgage insurance program
of the federal government to make available to persons displaced
by any form of governmental action low cost relocation housing for
sale or rent, through new or existing construction. The mortgage
loan, at five and one-quarter per cent, plus FHA's standard one-
half per cent mortgage insurance premium, may be 100 per cent of FHA
appraised value with a maximum of $9,000 for any dwelling ($10,000
in high cost areas). The maximum mortgage maturity is 40 years,
and the eligible buyer of single family homes need put up only
$200 down payment, any or all of which may be used to cover closing
costs.

Because the area of study for this thesis is Detroit, Michigan,
it is believed best to state the local requirements for the city
at this time.

According to the Housing Commission of the City of Detroit,
on March 13, 1951, the Common Council unanimously adopted a
resolution which covers three major points: -

1. The Housing Commission is authorized to undertake the
relocation of persons displaced by public improvement.

2. Respective departments of the city government constructing
public improvements are authorized to utilize the services

of the Housing Commission for finding decent, safe and

20
sanitary housing and are further authorized to reimburse
the Commission out of construction funds.

3. The Housing Commission is authorized to enter into agree-
ments with the units of city government to perform
relocation services on a reimbursable basis and to enter
into agreements with state or other public agencies under-

taking public improvements.15

As far as the federal government is concerned, before a city
can qualify for funds to assist in urban renewal efforts it must have
a cbmprehensive plan from.which to work. The present legislation
stipulates that this comprehensive plan or workable program must be
.submitted to the federal government by localities applying for funds
for.pub1ic housing as well as for all phases of urban renewal.

Among the seven elements which must be included in the
workable program is a plan to assure the families displaced of decent,
safe and sanitary housing. Setting forth the details to be covered
in that portion of the workable program dealing with displaced
families, the Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency has said, "It
is important that the rehousing problem be understood by the community
and that the city give consideration to the kind of organization
which it will utilize to assist families so displaced, to find

'decent, safe and sanitary'housing suitable for them and within their

 

”MW (City of Detroit: 1951):
p. 528.

21

16
means.

The City of Detroit submitted its workable program to the
Urban Renewal Administration of the Housing and Home Finance Agency
in April, 1955, and approval was granted on June 17, 1955.17
With respect to relocation, an official city publication
has this to say:

It is recongized that if the City of Detroit is to proceed
in an orderly fashion with its program for urban renewal, the
alleviation of hardship among families facing displacement is
a primary requisite. Further, it is recognized that such
families must be aware of the relocation service at an early
date. These steps will represent the supplementation of a
regular service, originally established, and carried on
continuously since August, 1949, when clearance of the
sites for two low-rent public housing progects, Edward J.
Jeffries Homes and Douglass Homes began.l

According to the Housing Commission, relocation requirements

for families displaced as a result of clearance of public housing
sites were not spelled out in the original legislation, the Housing
Act of 1937. However,the Commission points out that administrative
regulations have been set forth from time to time and relocation
costs may be considered as an eligible expense. The major
regulations are as follows:

a. As a condition to preliminary approval by the Public Housing

Administration of a public housing site on which families are

 

16How Localities Can Develop a Workable nggr m for Urban

Renewal, Housing and Home Finance Agency (washington 25, D.C.,
December, 1955).

17Unofficial publication of the Detroit Housing Commission.

18Detroit's WOrkable Pro ram A Plan for the I rovement
of Our City (City of Detroit, April, 1955), p. 82.

22

living, the local housing agency must submit and have
-approved a feasible relocation plan. The plan must Show
that there are sufficient public housing units available to
'accommodate eligible families being displaced. ‘With respect
to families not eligible for public housing, it must show
that they can reasonably be expected to find dwelling
accommodations not worse than those on the site and at rents
-within their means. i

b. If slum clearance and other governmental programs are being
undertaken in a community, coordination of public housing
and other relocation activity is to be achieved to avoid
duplication of effort.

c. In demonstrating the feasibility of relocation from the
public housing site there must be recognition of any
Krestrictions in the supply of housing for minorities and
recognition of the demands of any other relocation which

“will take place in the community.

Relocatiop in Urban Renewal

Relocation is the process of moving families, individuals,
businesses and industries from an area which is to be redeveloped
or renewed, to other locations. The process is usually handled
through a municipal relocation agency, which works in conjunction
with, but is independent of, the urban planning commission.

Relocation is not an easy process. In moving people from

a project area to a relocation area, the agency responsible must

23
make certain that decent, safe and sanitary housing is obtained by
all the relocatees. There are problems with the aged, the sick,
and the stubborn. There are many legal problems involved. In
addition, the relocation personnel frequently must contend with
racialand religious minority status and with the limitations
imposed by low income.

It muSt be kept in mind that uncontrolled relocation can have
adverse effects upon the city. After all, the ultimate objective
of urban renewal is to improve the city. If displaced persons are
merely forCed out of an area without the least thought of how they
will find housing and be absorbed into the community, the purpose
of urban renewal becomes meaningless. Care must be taken to prevent
displaced persons from simply moving from one slum-area to another,
making the renewal process endless.

It is this crucial aspect of urban renewal, the process of

relocation, that we propose to examine in this thesis.

24

CHAPTER II
BACKGROUND DATA

It was noted in the preceding chapter that there is very
little literature by sociologists on urban renewal, with the
exception of several studies on citizen participation and two on
relocation which are the only ones that attempt to analyze the
problem from a sociological standpoint.

The fact that urban renewal is so new, at least as far
as significant action is concerned, accounts primarily for the
paucity of literature in regard to the relocation problem. Besides
the above-mentioned studies on relocation, there have been others
Which provide only a statistical analysis as to the number of
relocatees in an area, the dollar cost of a project, etc., but do
not examine the sociological aspects of the relocation problem.
Two exceptions to this are a study of the Dunbar Redevelopment
Project of the City of Little Rock and a study by the Chicago

Housing Authority.19

Relocation in Chicago

The Chicago study gave data on the character and quality
of dwellings obtained in the movement from Chicago Housing Authority

slum clearance sites, 1952-54.

 

19”Dunbar Redevelopment Project," The Housing Authority of
the City of Little Rock (1952); "The Relocation of Site Residents
to Private Housing," Chicago Housing Authority (November. 1955).

25

As far as the direction moved from the various project
areas20 was concerned, the heaviest "migration" was to Oakland and
Kenwood. Together with Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and West Englewood,
these areas absorbed about 25 per cent of the total relocation load.
Only eight per cent moved to scattered neighborhoods in South
Shore, Roseland, Chatham, Brighton Park and Grand Crossing. Move-
ments west massed in North Lawndale and East Garfield, where 28
per cent of the families concerned found housing.

According to the Chicago Housing Authority, when people
moved into these areas they usually moved into the one closest to
the redevelopment project area.21 Almost half the families from
the Cabrini Extension site moved southwest to the Garfield-Lawndale
areas, a minimum distance of over three miles. Less than five per
cent moved to areas more than one-half mile north of the site.
Twelve per cent moved from five to six miles south to Oakland,
Kenwood, and areas further south. Slightly more than half the
families in the Abbott and Horner sites moved directly west to
the Garfield—Lawndale areas, only two miles away. These data
are summarized in Table I.

As far as the quality of the newly acquired housing is
concerned, the data indicated a relatively high physical quality
accompanied by extensive substandardness due to lack of adequate
plumbing resulting from conversions. Many of the units moved to

were substandard, but were an improvement over the slum areas.

 

20See map of relocation.

2lSee Figure 3.

26
FIGURE 3
MAP OF RELOCATION*

 

Chicago Community Areas Where
CHA Site Residents Moved into
Private Dwellings, 1952~54

  
 
 
  
    
       
   
 
   

CENSUS TRACT AREAS

1. ”East Garfield Park
2. North Lawndale
3. Oakland

4. Kenwood

5. Hyde Park

6._ WOodlawn

7. South Shore

8. Chatham

9. Roseland

10. Brighton Park
11. West Englewood
12. Grand Crossing

 

 

LAKE MICHIGAN

 

l Dot 1 Relocation

 

DevelOpment Sites

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘1

*Source: See Table I on following page.

27

TABLE I

DISTANCE MOVED IN MILES BY RELOCATEES FROM
REDEVELOPMENT AREAS TO PRIVATE HOUSING*

 

 

fit

Miles Percentage

Less than 1.0 28.9%

1.0-1.9 13.2

2.0-2.9 23.8

3.0~4.9 24.0

5.0-more 10.0
Median 2.3

 

*Source: Relocation of Site Residents
to Private Housing, Chicago Housing Authority
‘(November, 1955). P. 9.

28

However, in the worst areas, over one-fifth of the housing was
dilapidated and over one-half the dwellings were substandard.22

The majority of the site residents learned about available
housing through friends, neighbors, and former landlords.23 The
Chicago Housing Authority indicated that this has always been common
practice because of the difficulty in obtaining information about
vacancies for non-white occupancy in a market which has always been
in short supply. According to the Chicago Housing Authority, 43
per cent of those eligible for public housing relocated to private
dwellings and never applied for the publicly supported units. In
response to the question, "Why didn't you apply for public housing?"
families gave the reasons cited in Table II.

Almost 90 per cent of the people eligible who did not move
to public housing found private dwellings through friends, neighbors
and former landlords. The distribution of all families finding
private dwellings by source of their information is summarized in
Table III.

Further interviewing of the Chicago site residents revealed
that their major objections to public housing were (1) the regulations

(no dogs and cats, no roomers), and (2) economic (the rent was too

high and the cost of furnishing the apartment).

 

22"Relocation of Site Residents to Private Housing," Chicago

Housing Authority (November, 1955). P. 5.

2
3See Table III

29
TABLE II

REASONS GIVEN BY ELIGIBLE RELOCATEES OF THE CHICAGO
STUDY FOR NOT APPLYING FOR PUBLIC HOUSING*

 

 

Total ' lggfi
Private dwelling available 42.9
Thought they were ineligible 32.1
Didn't care for public housing 17.9
Didn't know how to apply 7.1

 

*
Source: pp, cit., p. 29.

TABLE III

SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE
HOUSING FOR DISPLACED PERSONS BY ELIGIBILITY
FOR PUBLIC HOUSING* '

1L

Total Total Elegible Ineligible
Friends, neigbhors 73.3% 88.5 64.6
Real estate firms 20.7 10.2 25.6
Newspaper ads 7.0 1.3 9.7

 

*
Source: Ibid., p. 6.

30

Relocation in Little Rock

During the Dunbar Redevelopment project,24 the Housing
Authority of the City of Little Rock served as the local public agency
for slum clearance and redevelopment. It was the stated objective
of the Housing Authority through its relocation office to aid these
displaced families in finding rehousing accommodations that were
decent, Safe and sanitary at a price within the financial means of
the families themselves.

At this particular time in the City of Little Rock, there
were, according to the Little Rock Housing Authority, a number of
suitable private and public dwellings available to displaced people.
However, there was serious resistance by the residents to relocation.
The Authority believed there were several reasons for this resistance,
as is indicated in the following quotation:25

1. Strong neighbophood ties. In the struggle for existence,
the slum dweller attaches himself to friends and relatives
whose struggles are the same or similar, compensating
somewhat for the misery of his existence. With relocation,
the Agency feels, comes the fear of breaking these ties.

2. Racial and religious factors. Over 97 per cent of the
occupants of the Dunbar area were Negroes which was an
obstacle to relocation in other areas. In Dunbar, as in
other sections, an individual becomes strongly identified
with his neighborhood and his neighborhood church. There-
fore, he strongly resists being separated from either.

3. Income factop. Approximately one-half of the site occupants
had low and unstable incomes, and for them the slums

represented the only place they could secure cheap housing
from the landlords who, for obvious reasons, would be somewhat

 

24The Dunbar Redeve10pment Project, Final Relocation Report,

Housing Authority of the City of Little Rock (1952).

251bid., p. 3.

31
tolerant with their rent delinquency. Furthermore, the
thought of relocation from these cheap homes to standard
housing brought a fear of insecurity, as they were afraid
of being unable to maintain a higher standard of living.

4. Slum dwelling by choice. A few of the families living

in the Dunbar area had attained income sufficient to secure

standard housing elsewhere, but they did not consider their

present housing undesirable.
5. The general resistance to being compelled to move. Some

of the occupants took the position that they were entitled

to live where and however they chose, and the Housing

Authority had no right to compel them to move. Furthermore,

the Housing Authority, serving as the Redevelopment Agency,

'owned and operated the low-rent housing projects in the

city, and the site occupants felt that they were being

forced to move in order to fill recently-opened Booker
homes. Actually, no such pressure was being exerted.

The Housing Authority of Little Rock points out that the
process of relocation entails far more than the removal of families
from the site. Several different types and kinds of contracts were
entered into by the occupants by the time they were resettled in
their new units. Some families made purchase contracts, and
sometimes building and repair contracts. Others made moving contracts,
land purchase contracts and rental contracts.

The Authority gave direct financial assistance in cases where
the need was evident. This is the direct opposite of Detroit's
policies. In the latter case, people received aid according to
their expenses, whether they really needed the money or not.

It appears that the officials of the Little Rook Housing
Authority encouraged the relocatees to solve their own problems.

However, this is in direct conflict with their officially prescribed

duty whiCh is to help find units for displaced persons.

32

Summary of the Findings of the Studies

The report by the Chicago agency discovered that the persons
to be relocated found out about available vacancies through friends,
neighbors and former landlords. It is significant to note that the
relocatees did not actually utilize the services of the Agency for
this purpose.

The Chicago study also revealed that much of the housing
into Which relocated people moved was substandard and dilapidated,
signifying that the relocatees did not substantially improve the
quality of their housing.

The experience of Chicago suggests that there is a definite
pattern to the resettling of the displaced people from an urban
renewal area, that the areas settled in do not necessarily disrupt
the general ecological patterns of the city.

The Chicago Housing Authority experience also revealed an
apparent lack of interest in public housing due presumably to the
lack of economic means and to objections to the regulations imposed
by the management of public housing.

The relocation agencies of most cities have found a definite
resistance to moving on the part of the relocatees. The Housing
Authority of the City of Little Rock probed into this resistance,
and found both positive and negative reasons to exist; positive in
the sense of attachments to the area, and negative in inabilities
to locate in better residential areas.

Limited as such data are, they provide clues and suggestions

33
about relocation as a social process, and offer a basis for developing
the study of relocation as a sociological problem. This is the

concern of this thesis in the following chapter.

34

CHAPTER III
RELOCATION AS A SOCIOLOGICAL PROBLEM

Relocation, as a phase of urban renewal, is an attempt to
develop a controlled social process. It functions, first, to fulfill
the obligation to aid persons displaced from urban renewal project
areas in obtaining housing, and secondly, to disperse the relocatees
among units that are considered by federal requirements to be "decent,
safe and sanitary."

The relocation of displaced persons from an urban renewal
area can have serious effects on the ecology of the city. In the
first place, when a slum is torn down and a new use instituted the
surrounding areas cannot help but be affected. One obvious possibility
is for displaced persons to move in concentration into the nearby
areas, and thus to establish new slums or reinforce existing ones.

These observations on relocation as a social process, and
as a complex, difficult social issue in urban renewal, underscore
a sociological relevance which has not been as yet studied. Clearly,
relocation warrants sociological analysis. It is the intent of this
thesis to undertake research in some phases of this problem.

To give some focus and limited framework to the study, a
preliminary investigation of a Detroit urban renewal project chosen
for study, and the previously cited Chicago study were used to
develop three hypotheses.

The Chicago study suggested that a definite pattern of

relocation was evident, which did not disrupt the prevailing

35
ecological pattern of the city. The Chicago data also suggested
that relocated families do not substantially better themselves in
housing by their move. This has been debated from time to time,
and therefore seemed to merit testing.

Preliminary investigation yielded data that seemed to
indicate that relocatees did not utilize the services of the Agency
in locating housing outside of the project area, at least as far as
project areas in Detroit are concerned. This, it must be noted,
parallels the Chicago data.

Thus, this study is an attempt to determine the significance
of relocation in efforts at eliminating blight and to discover its

impact on the ecological distribution of the city's population.
Three Hypotheses for Research

In the manner referred to above it was determined to test
three hypotheses. The three so-tested are:

l. Relocated people, in the majopity of capgg, do not acquipp
‘. 19" 9‘ te HOSin .0 foq' _, 1‘ S- ‘ 1" 0, a ‘-
or in the same copgition as that whigh they le§§_behing.

This hypothesis, suggested by the Chicago data and
preliminary investigation of the Detroit project area, would indicate,
if validated, that urban renewal is-a never-ending process, because
we are merely shifting our slums from place to place.

2. The relocation of displaced‘persons occurs in such a way

pg not to disturb seriously thegprevailingyecological structure of

the city.

36
This hypothesis is based on the Chicago study. The final
relocation map in Chapter II portrays this in graphic form.26

For purposes of study, it is assumed that relocation will
have quite the same effects in Detroit. The findings of Detroit
should be even more significant in testing this hypothesis because
of the apparent 20 per cent vacancy rate in housing in that particular
city in comparison to a shortage of housing in Chicago.27

3. The operating function of the Relocation Agency is different
than the officially prescribed function; that is to say that most of
people relocated did not utilize the services of the Agency, but
found hogging on their own.

If this is so, the federal requirement of "decent, safe and
sanitary," has a tendency to lose its meaning. Again, Chicago data
suggest this. If the hypothesis is true, relocation policies are
not nearly as effective as could be possible. To achieve the utmost
in urban improvement, much revamping of the procedures and policies

of renewal would consequently have to be done.
Methodology

Basic data for the Detroit case study*were taken directly
from the relocation files of the Detroit Housing Commission. Data

were carefully gathered on each family to be relocated by the Housing

 

26"Summary of FindingS." Chicago Housing Authority (July,

1949), p. 1.

27This was indicated to the author by Mr. Homer Saunders
of the Detroit Housing Commission Relocation Agency.

37
Commission staff and recorded on an Official Site Occupant Record.
Data which applied directly to the hypotheses in this thesis were
extracted from this record. Information on this record includes
facts on the number of people in the family to be relocated, the
race, place of residence, new location, quality of the "new" unit,
etc. The record also indicates whether the people used the services
of the Agency to find new housing or found it themselves.

Old addresses, as well as new, being on the record, provided
the basis for determining whether there is a pattern to the people's
settlement. The new addresses, together with information about.
the new area of settlement, indicated the condition of the units
and (or) the type of areas the people moved to. The information
regarding old and new addresses and distances moved by the relocatees
was converted into map form. Through the use of dots representing
new addresses of relocatees, one may see the actual relocation
pattern of the displaced people, any particular clusters which result
and the distances moved. This particular map may be seen in a later

chapter.

The Area of Study

An adequate case study required an on-going urban renewal
project in which the relocation of residents was being brought to
completion. The Westside Redevelopment Project in Detroit provided
such a site for the study.

The Westside Redevelopment area, more commonly known as

"Corktown," is situated in a slum in the heart of Detroit, Michigan.

38

The boundaries of the area are 12th Street, Bagley, Trumbull, Porter,
John C. Lodge Expressway, West LaFayette and Howard Streets,
inclusive of some dozen and one-half blocks.

Corktown began in the 1830's, as an area of Irish settlement.
The density rose until its peak from 1880 until 1910. Through the
Twenties the exodus began. Latin—Americans and Maltese moved in.
Housing was always small and wood-structured, but large families
have continued. At the present time, there are only about 20
families of Irish descent who remain in the area, and so the name
"Corktown" is no longer representative of the people or of the
entire area under discussion. Ethnic composition of the area is,
at present, one quarter Latin-American, one quarter Maltese, one
quarter Negro, and one quarter other.

Because of the changing character of Detroit, the area
where Corktown is located, is no longer regarded as satisfactory
for residential units. Therefore, it has been bought by the
City of Detroit and is now in the process of being cleared of
residences, populace, and structures of commercial and business
types. When the city has finally cleared the area it plans to

rezone it "light industrial."

CHAPTER :7

THE ANALYSIS CF RELOCATION: THREE HYPOTHESES

It is the object of urban planners to see that improvement
is made in the physical and cultural atmosphere of the city. In
efforts to realize this objective many cities are rehabilitating,
including tearing down their slum areas. In almost all of these
instances, persons are displaced and must find other units in which
to live. Where they go and what type of housing they become attached
to affects the future make-up of the city and has an important
effect on the urban renewal plans the municipality may make or be

forced to make.

The Quality of Housing for Relocated Families

Preliminary investigation suggested that newly acquired
housing which relocated people obtained was not as good, or at
least was not any better than that from which they moved. The
previously cited Chicago study paralleled this finding. The first
of our three hypotheses was, therefore, that relocated persons, in
the majority of cases, do not acquire substantially better housing,
but find it in the same type of area or in the same condition as
that which they left behind. To test this hypothesis the author
extracted two types of data from the files of the Relocation
Agency of the City of Detroit; one, information as to the exact
addresses of the relocated families and two, information as to the

quality of the newly acquired units and of the neighborhood moved to.

40
Quality of the units were based on reports of inspections made by
Agency personnel. Quality of the neighborhood was then derived, in
part, from a neighborhood and area comparison with the project
area.

As far as the inspection reports were concerned, personnel
from the Agency went into the field, and inspected the newly acquired
units. At no time, was there a standard housing classification
system used. A field inspector was told generally what to look for
in order to classify a unit as substandard or standard, but the
actual classification was left up to him. Generally, the majority
of units were clearly in one category or the other. A list of some
25 criteria were used to help determine the classification of the
dwelling, the major ones of which were exterior condition, lack of
toilet facilities or related facilities, number of persons per room,
etc.

Out of the 300 families under discussion, 71 were found by
the personnel of the Agency to be living in extremely unsatisfactory
and substandard housing. When a_substandard dwelling was found,

a letter indicating this classification was sent to the family
concerned and if a reply was not received within 30 days, the case
'was dismissed.

If one were to go one mile in all directions from the project
area, except to the east, which is downtown, generally poor housing
conditions would be found to exist. It must be noted that in most
urban renewal projects, only a portion of the slum area is "operated

upon." This is because of the tremendous cost involved and because

41
of the limits of size approved for federal financing. An inspection
of new addresses of the displaced residents reveals that 80.6 per
cent of the 300 families moved within a one mile radius of the
redevelopment area, and the large majority of this percentage moved
within several blocks. When it is said that relocatees settle within
several blocks of the area, they are really settling within the
same slum, but outside of the area currently chosen for redevelopment.

When judged on the basis of the neighborhood moved into,
only 35 or 40 families effected any considerable improvement in the
quality of their housing. The data, then, support the hypothesis
being tested, and indicate that the typical relocated family did
not substantially improve its housing.

It should be noted that professional planners and city
administrators have frequently observed that many of the relocatees
are forced to move again into substandard units because of the cost
factor. They simply cannot afford anything more.

If this hypothesis has general applicability in the major
problem areas in all of our cities, then planning policies in general
must be restudied, for apparently we are merely shifting our slums I
from one area of the city to another. It could be a never-ending
process, something the budgets of most planning departments could

never stand.
The Pattern of Relocation in Detroit

If relocated families, for the most part, moved into similar

types of housing, this would suggest a continuation of the existing

42
ecological pattern. We hypothesize that the relocation of displaced
persons occurs in such a way as not to disturb the prevailing
ecological structure of the city. The Chicago study, previously
cited, revealed a definite pattern of settlement and a maximum
distance moved. Though Detroit now has a 20 per cent vacancy rate
in housing as a consequence of the tremendous flight to the suburbs
'within the last 15 years, as indicated by the Housing Commission,
preliminary investigation suggested that the pattern might be very
similar to the relocation pattern of Chicago, even though that city
has, if anything, a shortage of housing. Therefore, the hypothesis
to be treated is simply that relocated families cluster in specific
areas of the city and do not resettle randomly throughout the
metropolitan area, thus not disturbing the ecological structure of
the city.

Data to test this hypothesis were taken from the files of
the Agency. Again, new addresses were used to indicate the area to
which residents moved. Each of the new addresses was pin-pointed
on a Detroit street map, sufficiently detailed to permit locating
the specific block.

After identifying the new locations of the families, the
data was then organized graphically on a map (Figure 4) in the form
of a series of dots, one dot signifying one relocation. A few
identifying marks were transferred along with the dots to give
orientation to the reader. These marks, as indicated on the map,
are as follows: the Detroit River, the Westside Redevelopment Project

(Corktown), Brewster Douglass Homes (public housing), Jeffries

43
FZGUFE 4

THE PATTERN OF SETTLEMEB‘ AFTER RELOCATEGN FROM THE

WESTSIDE REDEVELC‘.PMENT AREA

   

John C. Lodge
Expressway

     
 
  
  

sel Ford Expressway

     
   
  
    
 

Douglass Homes

effries ‘ (Public Housing)

Homes .
(Public
Housing)

0
... ‘.

 
 
 
  
   
   
  
 

.0
.0
Q

C

C

2

0.0... . 0‘
to.
O
U."
n
P

.0
I

O

.

.
I...“
4 2 -
33"

9 ' CO'.&
0
co
0
a. '

.
C
. C
‘
O
00.
.
...
C...
C O.
0....
0"

Co

 

..£

.2
3.
a

  
 
 
 

F

. . I‘ Lil.
Windsor, Ontario, One Mile
Canada

1 Dot = 1 Relocation

fl

44
Homes (public housing), Wayne State University, Briggs Stadium
(home of the Detroit Tiger Baseball club), the Ford Memorial
Auditorium, John C. Lodge Expressway, Edsel Ford Expressway, U.S.
Highway No. 16 and the Henry Ford Hospital.

As can be observed from the map, the large majority of the
displaced families settled within a one-mile radius of the redevelop-
ment project area and most, as was previously mentioned, settled
in areas immediately adjacent to Corktown, itself. The area adjacent
to the John C. Lodge Expressway on the east side is not resettled
because that is the heart of downtown.

An enumeration of relocated families within given distances
from the project reveals that more than two thirds {68.3 per cent)
relocated within.a half—mile radius, and 80.6 per cent within a
one-mile radius, Table IV summarizes this enumeration.

It is the.observation of the Relocation Agency that the
families of lowest income moved the shortest distance. In case of
the high ownership areas, such as the Mack-Concord Project area,
on the east side of Detroit, the displaced persons scattered randomly
throughout the metropolitan area and had a tendency to move further
from the project area than any other group. In addition to economic
limitations, lower income people in these areas frequently have many
close ethnic, religious and cultural ties, which they find difficult,
if not impossible, to break. To maintain these associations while
locating within their limited means, they relocate next to the area
from which they moved.

The two hypotheses discussed above seem to support one another.

45

TABLE If

DISTANCES MCVED BY RELGC TEES FRCM THE
REDEVELSPMENT PROJECT AREA

 

Distance Moved in Mile§_ Total
0.0—0.5 68.3%
0.6-1.0 12.3
1.1-2.0 16.4
2.0 and more 3.0

100.0

46
If a relocated family seeks the same type of house and living
condition as that which it left behind and, at the same time,
tries to hold onto its cultural, religious and ethnic associations,
the easiest thing to do is to pick out a house in an area adjacent
to the one just moved from. Chances are this newly acquired unit
is merely a block or two from the old.

So, as a consequence, relocatees settle in areas not unlike

the ones they moved from, in similar types of homes and in the same
general cultural atmOSphere. At the same time there is no serious

disruption in the ecological structure of the city.

The Functions of a Relocation Agency

 

In order to facilitate the relocation of displaced persons
from an urban renewal area, most cities include within the structure
of their renewal machinery a municipal relocation agency, which is
either part of the housing commission or planning department. It
must be kept in mind that the federal government specifies that in
order for a city to become eligible to receive funds in the form
of grants for urban renewal, it must present a program in renewal
which insures "decent, safe and sanitary" housing for all displaced
persons. This federal requirement is one of the seven qualifications
a municipality must satisfy before it is even considered to receive
grants. Thus, the relocation agency's official function is to help
find other housing for families displaced through urban renewal
efforts. In many instances, however, the actual and intended functions

could and do differ remarkably. This is to be exemplified by the

Detroit case study.

A preliminary analysis suggested that the Operating function
of the Detroit Relocation Agency, that is,what, in fact, the Agency
did, was something other than its officially prescribed function.

It seemed that the Agency did not assure the relocatees adequate
housing units after relocation. In fact, the Agency did not aid

the residents in finding housing of any kind in over 95 per cent

of the-cases. Thus, we hypothesize that the operating or accepted
function of the Relocation Agency of the Housing Commission of the
City of Detroit is different than the officially prescribed function;
that is to say that most of the families displaced from an urban
renewal area do not utilize the services of the Agency, whose
official purpose for existence is to assist the relocatees in finding
units in which to live.

At the time the data for this thesis were gathered, which
was March of 1960, all but a half-dozen or so families had moved
from the renewal site, and it might appear that these 300 displaced
families have been relocated in dwellings referred to them by the
Relocation Agency. But, the data revealed that almost all of the
300 resettled with no assistance from the Agency. For the most
part,.when given an eviction notice, effective at some future date,
the persons concerned moved on their own, without seeking advice or
assistance from the professional people concerned. Out of the 300
families who have relocated since receiving notices of renewal plans
for the area, only seven have requested aid of the Agency. Of these

seven, four were referred to and placed in public units, and three

48
were relocated in private rental housing. In other words. only
2.3 per cent of the relocated people were actually aided by the
Agency.

This finding does not necessarily mean that the Agency has
no function, but without a doubt, its function is not the officially
prescribed one. It would seem that the Agency°s function is to
ensure that people relocate, even if by their own efforts, and thus,
clear the area of its residents in order to allow the renewal program
to proceed.

This may satisfy the federal requirements if adequate checks
are made to assure that displaced families are housed in "decent,
safe and sanitary" units. However, the tendency on the part of the
occupants of these slum areas is to move on the first indication of
renewal plans by the city, sometimes notifying the Relocation Agency
of the move, sometimes not, thus making adequate checking difficult.

It would seem that the function of the Relocation Agency
must be redefined. For the most part the Agency does not perform
the service of finding units for the displaced families, but merely
acts as a stimulus to remove them from the area. Though this may
facilitate an urban renewal program, it does not satisfy the
responsibility vested in local government by the federal government.

In the next chapter, we shall explore the sociological
implications of this, as well as the data obtained in testing the

other hypotheses.

49

CONCLUSZGN: SOME COMMENTS AND OBSERTATZQNS

The Agency

 

Up to this pdint in the thesis, we have discussed the backs
ground of the problems with which this study is concerned, the area
about which the research was gathered, the makeuup of the study,
and the stating and testing of the hypotheses. In this chapter
some consequences and implications of the study will be discussed
and several proposals for the improvement of the relocation process
will be suggested.

The Relocation Agency of the City of Detroit, according to
the data presented in this thesis, does not fulfill the prescribed
function given it by the federal government, which is to assist
persons displaced from urban renewal projects in finding units
outside of the project area which are in 'decent, safe and sanitary”
condition. The function actually performed by the Agency, which
can be called the operating function, is that of acting as a stimulus
to remove persons from the renewal area so that urban renewal efforts
can begin as quickly as possible.

Robert K- Mertonza differentiates between two types of

functions, the explanation of which can be applied to clarify the

 

28Robert K. Merton, ”Manifest and Latent Functions,‘E Socia

Theory and Social Structure, The Free Press (Glencoe, Illinois,
1949), p. 63.

50
difference between prescribed and operating functions. Merton uses
the term "manifest function” to mean one which refers to the objective
consequences for a specified unit (person, subgroup, social or
cultural system) which contribute to its adjustment or adoption
and was so intended. In the case of the Detroit Agency, the
manifest function would be the prescribed one,as it is supposed to
be the intention of the Relocation Agency to see that certain
services are performed for displaced persons. This manifest function
is prescribed for the agency by the federal government as a requires
ment for federal financing. Thus, at the outset, the agency‘s
manifest function originates from a larger system of government.
However, this distinction must be made: it is a manifest function
from the persepctive of the federal government: however, the relocation
agency has come to recognize a different function for itself.

Merton uses the term "latent" to refer to unintended and
unrecognized consequences of the same order. However, this term
does not quite apply to the operating function as we know it, for
to fall within this classification, what, in fact, the Agency does
'would have to be unintended and unrecognized. By the evidence
presented in this thesis, it is seen that the main concern of the
Agency is to clear the area of residents as quickly as possible so
that renewal work may begin. This represents a shift from the
originally prescribed function of providing assistance in finding
"decent, safe-and sanitary" housing units for displaced persons.
This shift is a consequence of pressures generated by the total

complex of the urban renewal program, in which relocation becomes an

51
instrument for expediting these renewal efforts. This function
deviates considerably from the one prescribed by the federal government,
a fact of which the relocation staff is admittedly aware. This
does not meet Merton's definition of latent function, although it may
be so for the federal government. Merton, of course, recognizes
that what is either latent or manifest for one social unit may not
be so for another.

It is true that the people to be displaced are not literally
told to get out of the area; however, over 95 per cent of them were
not aided by the Agency in any way in finding other living units.
Notices were received by the residents informing them that they were
in a renewal area and that the property which they were renting (or
buying) would be taken over by the city. They almost immediately
moved on their own even though ample notice was given advising them
of the relocation service available to them.

After the family moved to another area, the case was all
but closed, for merely a routine check was made to assure that the
relocation was made into standard housing. This check, however, was
not always made, but if it was and the unit was found to be sub-
standard, a notice was sent to the family notifying them of this,
and if a reply was not received by the Agency within 30 days, the
case was officially closed.

Thus, letting the families move on their own seems to indicate
that the Agency's prime concern is getting them out of the area.
However, yielding to the pressure of getting the families out of the

area has at least two consequences: (1) rigorous housing standards

52
are not applied, thus increasing the chances of people not improving
their housing, something with which renewal personnel are supposed
to~be concerned, and (2) a loss of control over relocation movement,
thus contributing to the increasing use of and density of adjoining
slum areas.

Thus, renewal is a never-ending process. We are cleaning
one section of a city and contributing to the slum areas of another.
This is done by merely shifting the "ingredients" of a slum to another
section of the city.

The Agency personnel recognized that few displaced families
utilized the services of the staff. These professionals felt that
there were perhaps three major reasons why Agency services, for the
most part, were not used. The three are as follows: (1) the
relocatees had their own ideas as to what they wanted in looking
for a house and wanted no help from anyone, (2) there is the possibility
of some resentment for authority, believing that officialdom always
means trouble, and (3) there is an "inability" on the part of the
relocatees to see the advantages of a "picked out place." This
suggests definite awareness by professional personnel of a cultural
gap between themselves and the slum-dwellers whom they are seeking

to relocate.

The Slums

It has not been too many years since urban renewal was developed
as the answer to slums. It was intended to help eliminate the problems

involved and make our cities beautiful again. However, urban

53
renewal, as now planned and carried out, according to the evidence
presented by this thesis, may physically clear one slum, while
transferring its social characteristics to another neighborhood.
Thus, renewal may become mere physical change and not contribute to
the elimination of slums at all.

John Seeley believes that a slum is a "social necessity"
and that there will always be poorer sections of communities.29
He asserts that many of the services offered by the slum are
intended for consumers from all social classes. These are notably
bootlegging, call-girl services, "vice," etc. These, Seeley points
out, are for the benefit of what he calls the "overworld" and not
the underworld. The slum, in other words, serves many segments of
the population, not only the slum-dwellers. The slum offers these
services which would not easily be tolerated in "decent" neighbor-
hoods. One function of slum neighborhoods is to provide such
services, and as long as there is a demand, there will be a
supply.

Seeley points out that some slum-dwellers are there out of
necessity, in that their low income does not enable them to live
elsewhere, and some for profit, in that the slum provides a
convenient and safe place for the location of "undesirable" social
services. Urban renewal concerns itself with the low-income slum
dwellers, since it displaces them when it eliminates their slum

residences. But such physical removal does not eliminate their

 

29John R. Seeley, "The Slum: Its Nature, Use and Users,"
Journal of American Institute of Planners, XXV, No. 1 (February,
1959), pp. 7—14.

54

necessity to live in the slums, since their low income forces them
to move into similar, nearby housing. The data of this thesis has
clearly documented this fact.

While the physical clearance of an area may force out all
who live there, those who operate the less legitimate functions
(bootlegging, prostitution, etc.) are merely forced to relocate
elsewhere, a process that contributes to the social decline of another
area. Thus, the transfer of both low-income residents and illegitimate
operations to adjoining areas by the actions of urban renewal does
not eliminate the slum, but merely shifts its location within the
city.

The slum, however symbolized by physical characteristics,
is a social process, as Seeley suggests. Urban renewal's function

of physical clearance and renewal has little, if any, impact on the

social processes producing slums.

The Peopl_

We have found that in relocating displaced families do not
necessarily improve their housing, and they frequently relocate in
the same types of neighborhoods and in the same patterns. This
puzzles many administrators who fail to realize that lower class
people hold different values. In the first place, the ethnic,
racial and cultural values of lower class individuals and families
may differ markedly from middleéclaSS professionals, resulting
in different outlooks on life.

Chances are the lower class people in these areas are not

55
well educated and informed and consequently do not understand the
reasons behind relocation or renewal. To be sure, then, there is to
be expected much resistance to authority. The result is that there
is as little contact with the Agency as possible as there is little
reliance on its services.

In a cogent evaluation of urban renewal, Herbert J. Gans
discusses a lack of effective communication between the professional
world of Agency officials and the lower-class, slum world of the
relocatees?30

(1) Relocation procedures were developed by middle class
professionals and thus they assumed the self-sufficiency of the
nuclear family household. However, this assumption is not often
«true in the slums. Many of the individuals' households are tied
to those of other families by strong bonds, either of kinship
or peer—group membership. (2) Differences exist between
relocation officials and residents in the evaluation of physical
and social "standardness" of housing. To be sure, a slum
dweller may take social priority over physical values.

(3) The scheduling of relocation is based on requirements of

of the clearance program. If relocation takes longer than
expected, this may force officials to interpret the federal
relocation provisions as written, and limit the apartment choices
of the relocatees to the number required by law. (4) Since
relocation procedures do not allow for the transfer of the

social system, the shock of the relocation process itself is
likely to affect negatively a number of people who have never
lived anywhere else than in the slums, and whose social and
emotional ties are entirely within the neighborhood. (5) Another
problem involves the communication difficulties between the
redevelopment officials and the residents. Working people are
often hostile toward governmental authority in general and feel
that city officials and politicians deprive them of things they
value or are trying to cheat them out of their belongings.

 

30Herbert J. Gans, "Human Implications of Redevelopment and
Relocation," Journal of American Institute of Planners, XXV, No. L
(February,l959), pp. 15-25.

56
In addition, Gans feels that because of their generally

suspicious view of city government, working people reinterpret the
agency‘s communications accordingly. For example, Gans states that
many years often result between announcements of redevelopment and
its execution. This is assumed by the residents to be due to the
city°s desire to confuse the residents, scare them out of the area
and thus reduce the acquisition costs of property and the relocation
problem. He also points out that many troubles possibly stem from
the fact that the agency is so vague in its policies that rumors

get started and misunderstandings evolve.

Enhlic fisssins

 

During the 1930's when public housing became a major government
program, it was hoped by professional planners that slums could be
erased by replacing them with publicly built housing projects.

However, John P. Dean points out that social reformers failed
to see that merely moving a family into new housing does not erase

31 Public housing enthusiasts, Dean

crime or juvenile delinquency.
points out, emphasized the inadequate physical environment of the
slums and assumed a causal relationship between bad housing and
antiasocial behavior, and so thought slum clearance would remove the

social ills. The lack of a demonstrably simple causal relationship

between housing and behavior may, therefore, permit the transfer

 

31John P. Dean, ”The Myths of Housing Reform,” American
§pciological_3eview, Vol. 14, No. 2 (April, 1949), pp. 281-289.

57
of a slum social environment into a new housing unit. The point
is, therefore, that public housing, from the start, did not do the
jab expected of it.

Down through the years, the situation has become even worse.
Public housing has come increasingly to house those lowest on the
social scale, and thus to earn a reputation for being the "dumping,
grounds" of American communities. Though this was not the original
intent of public housing, this newer clientele has lowered the public
image of public housing in America.

During the last five or ten years public housing has also
gained a negative reputation among the poorer classes. Some slum
residents feel that the rents in public units are too high. Others
feel that living in public housing subjects one to too much authority,
to too many rules and regulations. 'Still others feel that living
in public housing labels one a welfare case. This suggests that
public housing is less of a resource for urban renewal than

,professionals may presume.

Suggestions for Improving thgi

Relocation Process

This study implies that the relocation machinery needs
revamping. To be sure, relocation is a necessary process, but at
present fails to achieve the goals prescribed by Congress.

Although the Detroit Housing Commission realizes that it
has certain problems, in many instances professional Planners and

other city administrators have a tendency to see the city only from

58
a technical point of View° it not often is, but should be
recognized that both the technical and sociological viewpoints are
important.

As a consequence of doing research in the area of relocation,
the author has several suggestions, both original and quoted which,
if followed, could improve the relocation process. They are
summarized below:

1. We must improve our race relations. Negroes and other
American minorities are concentrated in the inner cities. If our society
keeps limiting them to these living areas, the overcrowding which
will result will overcome our renewal efforts. This effect is already
being seen and felt.

2. We must realize, nationally, that replacing old dilapidated
neighborhoods with new high-rent housing is not the answer to renewal,
for the people who are displaced by these projects cannot move into
high-rent housing, either because their race doesn't permit it, or
they are without the necessary monthly income.

3. It has been suggested, from time to time, that some sort
of temporary new housing be established so that displaced persons
can be relocated in decent, safe and sanitary, but temporary,
dwellings until more permanent dwellings of a good quality can be
found. This, however, must be strictly controlled, for too often
the word "temporary" means "permanent."

4. More programs should be forced at the national and local
level to aim at convincing the people of the urgent need for urban

renewal, and of the disadvantages of harboring slums. The general

59
populace, long in the dark on this subject, must be made to realize
that the longer slums exist, they will grow more and more and this
growth, in turn, means higher costs, resulting in higher taxes.

5. We must realize that a campaign to "sell" public housing to
the qualified would be beneficial to all. Many displaced persons
have an aversion to public housing because of what it may stand for,
e.g., government, the poor, welfare cases, etc., but often people
who could be better off in public housing move into worse slums
than those from which they moved. This is definitely not improving
the city.

Herbert Gans, who has been involved in various urban renewal
projects, recommends several proposals for procedural change in
relocation policies:

1. The relocation plan should take priority over the renewal
phases of the total plan, and no renewal plan should be approved
by federal or local agencies until a proper relocation plan has
been developed.

2. This relocation plan should be based on a thorough
knowledge of the project area residents, so that the plan fits
their demands and needs and so that officials have some
understanding of the consequences of their actions before they
put the plan into effect. The federal agency ought to re—evaluate
its relation to the local agencies, raising its requirements
for such phases as rent collection. The latter would make it
possible for the local agency to be more sensitive to certain
needs of the project area residents.

3. Any renewal plan which requires the clearance of an
area and large-scale relocation should contain provisions for the
rehabilitation of site structures if changes in market conditions
suddenly reduce the amount of land required by the redeveloper.

 

32Gans, QB. cit., p. 24.

6O

4. Local and federal agencies should provide interest-
free loans to relocatees who wish to buy new homes.

5. These agencies should provide similar loans to project
area landlords whose present buildings provide decent, safe
and sanitary housing, to allow them to purchase new buildings
in other areas or to rehabilitate such buildings and to make
them available to project area residents.

6. Landlords with units eligible for relocation housing
anywhere in the community should be encouraged to rent to
relocatees, through such incentives as rehabilitation loans,
subsidies for redecorating, and the like.

. 7. When project area rents have been low, so that residents'
housing costs are raised sharply as a result of relocation, the
federal and local agencies should set up a rent moratorium to
allow relocatees to save some money for future rentals. The
length of this moratorium should be based on the gap between
project area and relocation area rentals.

8. Liquidation funds in lieu of moving allowances should
be provided to small store owners and other businessmen who will
not be able to reopen their firms elsewhere. Other federal and
local programs should be made available to provide occupational
retraining and other vocational aids to those who want them.

9. Communication between the redevelopment agency and the
residents should be set up so that:

(a) The amount of information given to site residents
is maximized, and the development of rumors due to information
vacuums is prevented.

(b) Officials are trained to understand the inevitably
deprivatory nature of relocation for the residents, so that they
have more insight into What relocation means to the residents,
and can develop a more tolerant attitude towards their reactions
of shock and protest.

10. The relocation staff should be strengthened by the
addition of:

(a) Social workers who can provide aid to residents
faced with additional problems resulting from relocation, and
can make referrals to other city agencies that deal with such
problems.

(b) Real estate technicians who cancievelop a thorough
inventory of the city's housing supply, and can also weed out '
unscrupulous landlords Who are likely to exploit the relocatees.

61

11. In relocation projects that involve the destruction of
a positive social system, experiments should be conducted to:

(a) Find ways of relocating together extended families
living together in separate but adjacent households, provided
they want to be moved en masse.

(b) Make it possible for important project area
institutions and organizations to re-establish themselves in
those neighborhoods Which have received the majority of relocatees,
or in central locations where they are accessible to scattered
relocatees.

(c) Develop group relocation methods to allow members
of an ethnic group who want to stay together to move into an
area as a group. This is especially important if there are
neighborhoods with available relocation housing in which there
are presently no members of that ethnic group.

12. Previous relocation projects suggest that most people
relocate themselves, and only a small proportion are relocated
by the agency. In the future, procedures should be revised
on this basis. Then the major functions of the relocation
agency should be:

(a) To make sure that the supply of relocation housing
is sufficient to give relocatees a maximum choice of decent,
safe and sanitary dwelling units at rents they are willing to
pay and in neighborhoods in which they want to live.

(b) To provide information and other aids that will
enable relocatees to evaluate these dwelling units, and to
make the best housing choice in relation to their needs and
wants.

(c) To offer relocation service to those who want to be
moved by the agency.

To be sure,-many planners and city administrators would not
approve of some of the above proposals for it is evident that they
are radical and would involve much more expense than is experienced
in the present renewal and relocation procedures. However,
modifications of our present procedures in the general direction
of the above proposals will tend to make relocation much easier and

more satisfying for both the residents and administrators.

62
Roger R. Rice, a graduate student in sociology at Richigan
State University recently wrote a short paper for an urban planning
seminar in which he came forth with several suggestions for the
improvement of the relocation process.33 The author would like to
mention what he considers the most important of these proposals and

expand somewhat upon them.

1. Better trained and qualified staff for relocation service.
As far as the author is concerned this is one of the most important
aspects of relocation. up to very recently, there has been no
evidence of training people especially in relocation. Even now,
there is very little of it going on.

2. Mandatory checks on where all relocatees go and follow-
up studies~~with authority to improve conditions if not satis»
factory. In actuality, most agencies have a mandatory check
on the newly acquired housing, but what is needed is a stricter
inspection policy. One check is all that is usually completed
and many times, this is a very lax one. Often, if the house is
considered substandard and no response is received from a
"substandard notice" the case is dismissed.

3. Higher standards for inspection of relocation housing.
Obviously, this is related to No. 2, but is different in this
respect. To be sure, the inspections are sometimes quite lax.
There is no standard to go by in many cases. There should be
rules set down by the federal government and adhered to, under
some sort of penalty if not complied with. Perhaps some of the
laxity would be omitted.

unexplored Areas

This thesis revealed that a pattern of relocation does

exist, but detailed study could explore the ethnic, religious and

 

33Roger R. Rice, "The Problem of Relocation" (unpublished
paper prepared for an urban renewal seminar, Department of Urban
Planning and Landscape Architecture, Michigan State University,
Winter, 1960).

63
and cultural ties which pull relocatees together and set them apart
culturally and psydhologically from middle class professionals.

It was the intent of this thesis to study relocation as
carried out by a relocation agency, and to analyze some of the
objective consequences of this relocation process. A study of
the people who are relocated was not defined at the outset as
‘within the scope of the thesis. However, the difference between
the prescribed and operating functions cannot be fully analyzed
without reference to their behavior, and the belief and values
that motivate such behavior. For example, this study has
discovered that slum-dwellers avoid contact with authority,
prefer to locate housing without official help, and apparently have
allow opinion of public housing. All of this prevents relocation
from functioning as Congress intended.

The cultural gap between middle class professionals and
lower—class slum—dwellers is generic to the problem of relocation.
It is a class difference, but often as in this case, compounded
of ethnic and racial differences. A full exploration of the
differences in perspectives and values, with consequences for
urban renewal, is a study of considerable magnitude, certainly
beyond the scope and framework of this study. Yet it remains
the significant issue for analysis, with implications that

extend beyond urban renewal.

THE

APPENDIX

RELOCATION AGENCY OF THE CITY

OF DETRQIT

64

65

THE RELOCATICN AGENCY OF THE CITY OF DETROIT

The Rggponsibility

The Detroit Housing Commission has been designated as the
agency responsible for handling the relocation of all families,
single persons, and commercial establishments displaced by all types
of governmental action in the City of Detroit.

On December 17, 1956: the Common Council approved the
establishment of a relocation agency office at the central office
of the Housing Commission. A relocation supervisor is in charge
of the office.

Relocation personnel are recruited by the Detroit Civil
Service Commission in accordance with regular procedures followed
by the City of Detroit. The Housing Commission now has on its
management and tenant selection staffs employees who have had
relocation experience. This experience was obtained during
clearance of the Edward J. Jeffries and Douglass Homes public housing
sites and of the Gratiot redevelopment site. Some of the people
now employed by the Relocation Agency have had social welfare
experience. The present supervisor is a housing manager (grade II).
He has had experience as site manager of the four blocks acquired
by the city for its public housing development, known as Michigan 1-11.

The present relocation service is financed entirely by the
City of Detroit with funds especially allocated for this purpose.

The Relocation Agency staff strength is presently as

follows:

66

1960
juggg; Salagy Range per Year EEEEQL
1 Relocation Supervisor $6526w7390 $7390
1 Public Housing Aide 4657~5107 5107
1 Technical Aide General 4967~5065 5065
1 Senior Clerk 4566—5007 5007
2 Typists 3772—4112 8224
l Stenographer 3958w4222 4222

In addition to the above staff the Housing Commission had
anticipated that the City Plan Commission will, from time to time,
have personnel assigned to handle matters relative to the master‘
plan industrial pattern and provide map service, but as of 1960, no
such personnel have been so assigned. It was hoped, at least, to
have one senior city planner and one technical aide, general, to
become the first personnel from the Plan Commission to help with
relocation matters. It would be the responsibility of these
personnel to assist small businessmen and other commercial establish-
ments in finding suitable locations.

In addition to the Civil Service employees shown in the
foregoing list, it is the intention of the Housing Commission to
employ housing expediterscxla,part-time basis. Their job will be
to establish contacts with local real estate firms and landlords
and to obtain listings of available vacancies suitable for use for
relocation, either for sale or for rent.

When tentative plans were being laid for the operation of

67
the Relocation Agency, it was expected that during the peak period
of relocation work, of the foregoing staff, one public housing aide
.and one technical aide general would be assigned to full-time
field work for each specific redevelopment project. They would work
under the direction of the relocation supervisor and their primary
responsibility would be to establish and maintain contacts with
site residents, giving them whatever assistance is indicated to
meet their needs. Housing aides and technical aides not assigned
to specific redevelopment projects will constitute a pool of field
workers to be assigned to the relocation of families from conservation
projects, from highways°areas, etc. The general staff will, in
other words, be responsible for the relocation of families displaced
through all types of governmental action other than redevelopment.

According to the staff of the Relocation Agency, the reason
for this division of work is that the relocation load expected
‘within the next few years will be particularly heavy. Also,
while every possible type of relocation aid or assistance will be
given to all families displaced through governmental action, it
is recognized that persons, businesses, and families displaced from
projects financed through Title I of the Housing Act of 1949 may
be given assistance beyond that provided for other displaced
families and that relocation requirements for such projects are
more specific than those generally applied.

As property is acquired by the City for urban renewal projects,

site management personnel will be recruited and site management

68
offices will be opened within the larger clearance areas. Site
management personnel will work in close cooperation with relocation
personnel and will share onwsite office space with them for the
convenience of residents and workers. For example, the project
studied in this thesis, the Westside Redevelopment project, has a

central relocation office in this project area.

The Relocation Adviser Committee

       

The Relocation Advisory Committee is a citymwide committee
which concerns itself with the overmall problems of displacement
resulting from all types of governmental action. on the committee
are representatives from a variety of public interest groups, from
public and private social agencies, from each public agency engaged
in any type of program which displaces people, and from the areas
where displacement is occurring.

The members of the Housing Commission staff feel that
coordination of all displacement through this type of broad, city-
wide committee is essential to the success of the City of Detroit's
plans for community improvement. However, they also feel that
as specific projects get under way, subcommittees of the over~all
advisory committee, established to deal with the detailed problems
of each project will be necessary, and provision for such subcommittees
is being made.

Personnel of the overwall committee will include leadership
from the various project areas. These leaders will be chosen because

of their sense of community responsibility and their acceptance as

69
leaders by {lE the people to be displaced, and {2} the community
at large. One of these recognized leaders is the Reverend Father
Francis H. Kern of the Roman Catholic Most Holy Trinity Church,
located in the Westside Redevelopment area of the City.

Subcommittees for the projects will, of course, be made up
primarily of people who live and work within the project area.
‘Within Detroit‘s redevelopment projects and first conservation
project, a number of responsible leaders have emerged and shown

a constructive interest in relocation planning.

getrpitcs Policies and Procedures for Locating,
E. Spegtimi and Referflrinq .Sitej-‘szzunsnts to_

.germanent RelocationflAccommodations‘

As was previously pointed out, the central relocation service
established on Becember 1?, 1956, is a part of the Heusing Commission
and has been constituted as a separate division under the supervision
of the directorwsecretary. The commission is the local public
housing agency and also the urban renewal agency for the City of
Detroit.

According to intentions the relocation supervisor is supposed
tO'work closely with the Housing Commission‘s urban renewal, technical,
public housing operations, and research division in the development
of documentary material pertaining to relocation and in the execution
of relocation plans for the various projects for which the
Commission is responsible. As was mentioned earlier, working

relationships are supposed to be developed with personnel from the

70

Plan Commission for this purpose.

“a ion of Methods for Makin

    

_Zns actions and,
.fiertifyinq theigabitabilitv of Housing_
Accommodations Located by Site
Families or a local

Public Agency

She Inspecgipn Sheet.

The inspection will be used for inspecting all dwellings used
for the relocation of families from the various sites. Most
of the items on this inspection sheet have been taken from the
City of Detroit°s housing and building codes which are enforced
by the Department of Health and the Department of Building and
Safety Engineering. They were developed in a conference of
representatives from the two departments and from the Housing
Commission. Additional items, not included in the codes, have
been added. All items incorporate standards at least as high
as those required by law and in some instances the standards
are higher.

Referrals bv the Local Public Agency
All dwellings to which families are referred by the Detroit

 

Housing Commission will be inspected prior to the referral.
Staff members given this assignment will attend training
sessions conducted by representatives of the Department of
Health and the Department of Safety Engineering so that they

‘will be fully qualified for this inspection task. If possible,

71
persons with previous experience of this type will be recruited.
Dwellings found to meet the standards shown on the inspection
sheet will be used for permanent relocation referrals. If the
standards are not met, the dwellings will be classified as
unsuitable for permanent relocation and any arrangements for
their use made with realtors, expediters, etc., will be
cancelled. However, under certain conditions, outlined below,
such dwellings, if in habitable condition, will be used for
temporary relocation.

If site residents move on their own initiative after
receiving the Housing Commission‘s informational statement and
prior to legal action, an inspection of their new dwelling
will be made by a relocation staff member’and an inspection
sheet completed. if standards as outlined on the inspection
sheet are met, the relocation obligation in the particular instance
will be recorded as "obligation discharged." If the standards
are not met, a record to this effect will be made and further
assistance will be offered until the family has been given an
Opportunity to move to 'decent, safe and sanitary" housing.

All contacts with families moving voluntarily will be recorded.
Every effort will be made to keep at a minimum voluntary moves
to unsatisfactory housing. This will be accomplished by keeping
site residents fully informed and by establishing working
relationships with them at an early date.

Every effort will be made to keep the number of disappeared

families at a minimum. This will be accomplished through

72
distribution of written material emphasizing the importance of
notifying the relocation office when a move is contemplated and
through frequent home visit checks of the entire site. Contacts
with schools in the area will be developed at an early date
so that the relocation office will be informed of all school
withdrawals and the resulting new addresses. Families will also
be traced through the utility companies, if necessary. On
previous occasions, the Detroit EdisonCompany, Michigan Bell
Telephone Company, and the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company
have assisted in tracing lost families. Further, relatives and
references will be contacted in tracing these families.

Temporary relocation housing has been a "touchy" question
ever since the word “relocation" came into existence. The
word "temporary" implies that something is not permanent,
therefore, not satisfactory for extended use. In the case of the
Relocation Agency, however, this isn't exactly so. According
to the Housing Commission, if private dwellings made available
are found by staff inspectors to be in safe and habitable
condition and, in general, at least as desirable as housing
'within the site, yet do not meet all standards for decent, safe
and sanitary housing, they may be used for temporary relocation.
However, only in emergency situations will temporary relocations
be made. They will be kept at an absolute minimum and will be
made only if the families so relocated are in full accord with
the plan.

In determining whether dwellings are in habitable condition

73

and suitable for temporary relocation, the following criteria

will be useds

a.

Wnewatmnswani Repairs.

The overmall condition of the building must be satisfactory.
Kater Supp1y_and Facilggggg

All items in the inspection sheet must be met.
Sanitation

Items 1 and 4 in the inspection sheet must be met.
emergeeayrgene

Premises must be free of fire hazards.

Wiring

Wiring must be in safe condition.

Heating

Standards shown in the inspection sheet must be met.

The Detroit Housing Commission permits temporary relocation

only under two conditions:

a. When onmsite tenancy constitutes a hazard for the family

which cannot be practically corrected and a satisfactory

permanent move cannot be immediately achieved.

b. When continued tenancy in the on—site relocation seriously

hampers progress of the project and a satisfactory permanent

move cannot be achieved'within a reasonable period.

To help residents who are attempting to find their own housing,

the Commission has printed a pamphlet entitled, ,When Ybu Look For A

House. The purpose of this document, according to officials of

the Relocation Agency is to outline in simple language the items

74
to be noted by site residents who are attempting to find housing.
Thus, there is a serious attempt by the authorities to make sure
that the emphasis is placed on "decent, safe and sanitary" housing.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the people will oblige by
following these forms, even to a small degree. The Relocation
Agency even offers to answer any questions "relocatees" may have
about the forms or moving in general. A.private conference can be
arranged between some official of the Agency and a prospective "home
hunter." ‘

The pamphlet, Whenggou Look For A Hogggy is illustrated as
follows. :

Relocatee's Guide to House Hunting

"In looking for a new house, remember that it should be
'decent, safe and sanitary.‘ This means it should have certain
features set forth by our local health and building departments.
Your new house should have all these thingsé"

1. Rooms which are large enough for comfortable living . . .

with at least 80 square feet.

2. Enough space for sleeping . . . 500 cubic feet for every
person.

3. Ceilings which are seven and one-half feet high.

4. Walls and ceilings in good repair.

5. In the case of basement quarters, no more than half the
ceiling height may be below sidewalk level and ceilings should

be at least seven feet high.

ll.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

75
Basements must be dry.
Every room must have one or more windows.
Porches and railings must be firm and safe.
Buildings must be strong and in good condition.
The roof must be in good condition.
Windows must be in good condition.
A dwelling must have plumbing which is in good working
condition, a private sink, bathtub and toilet which is not
shared with other persons or families, and hot and cold
running water.
Be sure there are no rats in the building.
Screens must be provided from April 15 to November 15.
Every bathroom and kitchen must have an outside window.
The outside and inside of the house should be free of
garbage and rubbish.
Buildings with three or more dwelling units must have two
outside doors.
Stairways and doorways must be kept clear.
Dangerous materials which will burn easily or explode must
not be stored in buildings or yards.
Wiring must be in safe condition.

Heating equipment must be safe and in good working order.

76

Record Keeping

 

The following forms are utilized to provide accurate and

complete relocation records:

1.

Site Occupant Relocation Record

 

The "Site Occupant Relocation Record" is used in the preparation
of data for relocation plans and is designated primarily
for Title I projects. Its purpose is to secure information,
usually on a sampling basis, which Will enable the Housing
Commission to plan for the relocation of all families, and
businesses within a specific area.

Relocation Survey Register

The basic record of relocation activity for individual
householders and families will be the "Relocation Survey
Register," completed at the time property is acquired for
every person or family living within the boundaries of

such property on the date of acquisition.

Household Control Card

In addition to the "Relocation Survey Register," a ”House-
hold Control Card" carrying basic information on relocation
activity for individuals and families will be used. This
card will be filed alphabetically and will give easy

access to a summary of basic information on each family or
household.

Vacant Dwelling Record

In order to have adequate control of dwellings made available

for relocation purposes and to record referrals made and

77
Structure Control Card
In order to maintain a satisfactory control over on-site
structures and a complete record of the dates they are
vacated and eventually demolished, a "Structure Control Card"
will be used.
Commercialyand Institutional
Pertinent relocation information on business establishments,
industrial plants, and institutions will be recorded on a
"Commercial and Institutional Control Record."
Referral Form
A "Referral Form" will be issued to families or persons,
giving them listings of private housing obtained by the
Housing Commission. The top portion of this form will be
completed (in duplicate) at the relocation office, the
other given to the referral. One copy will be retained at
the relocation office, the other given to the referred
person for presentation to the landlord, real estate agency
or management company. When information is received as
to action taken on the referral, the bottom portion of the
form will be completed and retained in the relocation office.
Inspection Check Sheet, Site Transfers
In emergency situations families or persons may occasionally
be transferred from one on-site location to another. Before
such action is taken, the unit to which the tenant is to be
transferred will be inspected and the "Inspection Check Sheet"

completed.

78
9. Relocation Sun-mam .Shset-
A "Relocation Summary Check Sheet" will be used as a final
control on relocation action. It will include pertinent

information about persons relocated and about structures

vacated.

Iggtificapion to the Site Residents,

 

Written statements are sent out in ample time notifying
residents that their property has been acquired by the City of
Detroit from their landlord and that field survey people will be

coming to visit them to explain anything in regard to relocation.

Legal Action and Nongpayment of Rent

 

The Housing Commission will take legal action only in
extreme cases, in order to insure that residents are moved out
in time so as not to block urban renewal progress. The following
four reasons shall constitute a basis for eviction proceedings:
1. Nonwpayment of rent.
2. Committing of a nuisance.
3. Refusal of housing which meets all relocation standards
and requirements.
4. Complete lack of cooperation such as repeated refusal to
discuss plans or give necessary information.
There are two forms to be used for terminating tenancy for
non-payment of rent (Seven Day Notice) or for the other reasons

outlined (30 Day Notice). Eviction is the last resort. Every

attempt to arrive at a solution with the family will be made.

79

Reloggpion Payments

Relocation payments, consisting ov moving expenses and/or
reimbursement for actual direct loss of property, will be made in
amounts not to exceed a total of $200 per family or single house—
holder, and $2500 for businesses for those displaced from Title I

Sites.

8O

SAMPLE CF PGRM LETTER SENT TO SITE RESIDENTS

Dear Resident:

As you know, the building in which you are living is one of a number
in the “mic Conservation Project area which will be torn down.

The Detroit Housing Commission has purchased property in your
neighborhood in order to improve the community and will be removing
certain buildings. '

Because you must move in order to make these improvements possible,

a Relocation Office has been Opened at 2211 Orleans. Office hours

are 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday through Friday. Mr. Homer Saunders
Relocation Supervisor, and his staff will help you find another place
to live. They will keep in touch with you through office interviews
and home visits. Their lists of available apartments, flats and
houses are for your use.

If you are interested in public housing, they will explain the rules
for admission, accept your application if you qualify, and give you
preference for existing vacancies.

Also available to families who must move is financial help in the
form of relocation payments of not more than $200 to cover the cost
of moving or loss of property. A written statement of the conditions
under which payment may be made may be obtained at the Relocation
'Office.

The Detroit Housing Commission is responsible for seeing that the
house you select is in good condition, convenient to your job,

and safe and sanitary. Attached is a list of housing standards you
may use as a guide when looking for another home. You should not
accept any house, flat or apartment unless it meets these standards.

The staff at the Relocation Office will want to knOW'when and where
you plan to move. Give your new address to the Relocation Office
before you move. They will visit the home you have chosen to make
sure it is in good condition.

Do not accept temporary housing unless it is absolutely necessary.

If you do find it necessary to move into temporary accommodations,
the Relocation staff will still be responsible for helping you locate
a better place to live.

The plans for your neighborhood require that the building in which
you are living be vacated as soon as possible.

81
Meanwhile you should begin to look for another place. Contact the
Relocation Office at 2211 Orleans, WOodward 3-0955 as soon as you
can. The staff there is waiting to help you.

Very truly yours,

DETROIT HOUSING COMMISSION

Mark K. Herley
Director-Secretary

BI BLI OGRAPHY

82

83

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Abrahamson, Julia. A Neighborhood Finds Itself. New York:

Harper and Brothers, 1959.

Anderson, Nels. The Urban Community. New York: Henry Holt,
1959.

Bergel, Ernest Egon. Urban Sociology. New York: McGraw-Hill
Book Company, 1955.

Beyer, Glenn H. Housing: A Factual Analysis. New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1958.

Chapin, F. Stuart, Jr. Urban Land Use Planning. New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1957.

Ericksen, E. Gordon. Urban Behavior. New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1954.

Gist, Noel P., and Halbert, L. A. Urban Society. New York:
Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1956.

Hoyt, Homer. The Structure and Growth of Residential Neighborhoods
in American Cities. Washington, D. C.: Federal Housing
Association, 1939.

 

Loring, William C., Jr., Sweetser, Frank L., Ernst, Charles F.

ggmmunity Organization for Citizen Participation in Urban

Renewal. Boston, Mass.: The Housing Association of
Metropolitan Boston, 1957.

Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe,
Illinois: The Free Press, 1949.

Park, R. E. The City. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1925.

Thelen, Herbert A., and Belk, Bettie. Neighbors in Action.
Chicago: Human Dynamics Laboratory, University of Chicago
Press, 1954.

Thelen, Herbert A. Dynamics of Groups at WOrk. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1954.

84

Articles and Papers

Dean, John P. "The Myths of Housing Reform," American Sociological
Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, April, 1949.

Gans, Herbert J. "Human Implications of Redevelopment and Relocation,"
Journal of American Institute of Planners, XXV, No. 1,
February, 1959.

Harris, Chauncy D. and Ullman, Edward L. "The Nature of Cities,"
Annals of the American Academy of Politigal and Social
Science, November, 1945.

Seeley, John R. "The Slum: Its Nature, Uses and Users," Journal .
of American Institute of Plannaga, XXV, No. 1, February, 1959.

Thelen, Herbert A. "Social Processes vs. Community Deterioration,"
Groungsychotherapy, Vol. LV, No. 3, December, 1951.

Official and Governmental Publications

City Planning and Urban Development. 'Washington, D. C.: U. S.
Chamber of Commerce, 1952.

 

Detroit's Workable Program, a Plan for the Improvement of our City.
City of Detroit: April, 1955.

Dunbar Redevelopment Prgiect. Little Rock, Arkansas: Housing
Authority of Little Rock, 1952.

How Localities Can Develop a Workable Pgogram for Urban Renewal.

Washington, D. C.: Housing and Home Finance Association,
December, 1955.

Summary of Findings. Chicago: Chicago Housing Authority, July,
1949.

The Relocation of gate Residents to Private Housing. Chicago:
Chicago Housing Authority, November, 1955.

Urban Land Policies. New York: UN Secretariat, Document ST/SCA/9,
April, 1952.

Your Congress and American Housing . . the Action of Congress on

Housing,.1892—1951. washington: Government Printing Office,
House Document No. 532, 82nd Congress, 2nd Session, 1952.

85

Unpublished Material

Rice, Roger R. "The Problem of Relocation." Unpublished paper
prepared for an urban renewal seminar, the Department of
Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture, Michigan State
University, Winter, 1960.

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