One letter which you will appreciate is from Gov. G. Mennen Williams who has been most helpful to me from the beginning. A copy of his letter follows: Mrs. JENCY PRICE HOUSER, STATE OF MICHIGAN, DEAR MRS. HOUSER: It is a pleasure to have you back in Michigan to speak before the Residence at Ease Association. Adequate housing is important and your efforts toward obtaining special housing for single persons of all ages-particularly women- -are most helpful. Over the years there has been stress placed on the need for housing and much has been accomplished. There remains much to be done, particularly in the field of providing housing for single persons. Your appearance before congressional committees and your many public appearances have been of great assistance. It is important for everyone to understand that the housing needs of all groups must be met. You are doing much to spread this understanding and your work is appreciated. With every good wish. G. MENNEN WILLIAMS, Governor. Three additional typical quotations from national leaders follow: "I was very pleased to hear that you are going to have an opportunity to speak in Detroit on February 21 about a proposed program to assist single women to obtain adequate housing. Many members of the House Banking and Currency Committee are impressed by the earnest fight that you have been making for enabling legislation. It was my hope that the 1959 omnibus housing bill would be broadened sufficiently to make possible initial projects in this field. There is obviously a great potential and, of course, a pilot program would provide the means of building soundly for the future." The above is a copy of a Western Union message to me from the Honorable William B. Widnall, Member of Congress from New Jersey. "These older citizens ordinarily do not need charity. A few perhaps require publicly aided housing. But more of them require nothing more than understanding and sensible help from their Federal Government, including reasonable interest rates and repayment terms. "A man or woman 65 years of age or older, who has spent 45 years or more earning a living in honorable employment, is not a 'poor credit risk.' He is a very good credit risk. He has the habit of paying his bills. "He is self-respecting and self-reliant. He deserves to be treated that way. He deserves a place to put his head, in his latter years, under circumstances in which he can maintain his personal dignity." The above is taken from a letter to me from the Honorable Melvin Price, Member of Congress from Illinois. "Your objective is certainly very meritorious, and I believe that our women's council should seriously consider undertaking such a project to stimulate nationwide interest in servicing the market of housing for single women, widows living on pensions, etc. We will contact you further on this in the very near future." The above was written to me by Mr. John Williamson, director, the National Association of Real Estate Boards. Much more thought must be given by housing experts to the "mass production" idea, and to "bulk buying" techniques. Builders must be encouraged by the Congress to give more thought to building "apartment-ettes"-in addition to the luxury-type apartments and luxury-type homes that are now so prevalent. The mutual self-help housing idea must be inculcated in the minds of our citizens, thus spurring them into action. Subsection (g) of 213 of the National Housing Act must be made a part of each section of the act wherever applicable, and Congress should see to it that the housing agencies publish a kit of helpful rules and regulations complying therewith. The inherent long-range implications of subsection (g) should be broadcast and rebroadcast from coast to coast. Encouragement should be the password. Urging and helping our middle-income single persons, as well as our elderly citizens, to accumulate an equity in something, and especially in their own homes, should be one of the most patriotic and valuable things that we can do today to prevent the inevitable struggle that will face millions of our citizens-if such help and encouragement is not given. It is my hope as well as the hope of my friends, associates, and advisers that Congress will give consideration to the contents of this statement. We sincerely feel that we are making a worthwhile contribution through advocating a good housing program for our elderly citizens. We congratulate you and your Subcommittee on the Aged and Aging for the positive efforts that you are making in behalf of a worthwhile segment of our population and we wish you Godspeed in finding proper solutions to a very knotty problem. We offer to you our help and our support. AUGUST 11, 1959. To Senator Patrick McNamara, chairman, the Subcommittee on Problems of the Aged and Aging, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, U.S. Senate, and Mrs. Jency Price Houser, National legislative Representative Congratulations to Senator McNamara, Mrs. Houser, and the many potential beneficiaries of their service. Congratulations to Senator McNamara for becoming chairman of the Subcommittee on Problems of the Aged and Aging, and to Mrs. Houser for presenting a statement to the committee setting forth how self-help housing for single people will meet the needs of retired people. The means are largely available, or could be made available for a solution to the problem by way of housing, both self-supported and sponsored, but the challenge is education-first, of Congress and housing officials; secondly, of the prospective beneficiaries. There is hope in the fact that both of you are particularly devoted to the educational process, and that Congress has at long last recognized the need sufficiently to provide a committee and a staff to study the subject. The findings should guide Congress and others in finding solutions. For the committee itself a challenge arises as to whether or not it is willing to accept available advice and information, with proper emphasis on the most worthwhile approach. For example, some 30 years ago a group of about 30 persons got together about $50,000 and invested it in a place to live. Now the records show that they have saved, in comparing what they would have otherwise had to pay, about $50,000 a year since, or 3,000 percent on the original investment. This saving is an aid for their latter years. We have reports from England to the effect that through geriatric treatment great strides have been made in the recovery of patients who had been pronounced incurable and who had been placed in institutions for life. Upon going home they became useful self-supporting citizens again. There are also many reports of preventive treatment which should be the first consideration for any government authority. I have available for the inspection of the committee plans and specifications of buildings for specially designed housing for single and elderly people. These plans have been built up over a period of many years by the mutual cooperation of some of the best qualified and the best known architects and technical people, and include specific assistance from at least four architects who are octogenerians. These plans for housing specifically designed for single people including the elderly, cover 50 main subjects such as architecture, economical ways of building and engineering, special equipment that saves time and reduces hazards, financial plans that are designed to improve upon both the cooperative and trust systems. Special research studies have been made in the selection of proper materials for building which are insulating as to heat, cold, sound, and vibration. Methods of organization of tenants and prospective tenants have been developed. Our studies and research have had to do with not merely the renewal of facilities but that of individuals as well. I specifically recommend to the committee that Federal protection be provided for those devoted persons who have worked so diligently in the past for this cause and those who may feel the call to carry on the work in the future. A. SHERWOOD VICKERS, Chief Technical Adviser and Educational Director for Housing Foundation Designed for Single People. WORKSHOP ON SENIOR CITIZENS The importance of such a discussion is indicated by the following facts: Best sources indicate that the number of senior citizens will increase 30 percent by 1970. Three groups of senior citizens merit Kiwanis attention in some way: 1. Those who have sufficient income to live comfortably but who crave opportunities to continue serving their communities in many different ways. Volunteer agencies can well look to senior citizens for a source of manpower. 2. Those who have sufficient income but who want to have help in developing recreational centers-the golden age type of setup where people of like age enjoy mutual interests. 3. Those who actually need additional income from some source. Obviously the matter of housing cuts across all three of these categories. It is most important in terms of utilization of income but it also adds much to the enjoyment of mutual interests. Copy of "Aging" attached has some basic material, especially on housing. 1. Kiwanis Foundation of Suburban Wauwatosa, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee, recently established a senior citizens workshop as a means of carrying out the seventh objective of Kiwanis International to "utilize the experience and talents of our senior citizens." Officers of the foundation interviewed more than 100 elderly retired people and found that many of them not only needed something useful to do "to help eliminate the endless monotony of doing nothing," but also that some of them had no resources and were living on pension and social-security incomes of less than $50 per month. Announcement of the senior citizens workshop stated: "Through our senior workshop we hope to help as many of these people as possible to help them-selves. We will center our efforts in the Milwaukee area. "Our job is to find products to produce, services to perform, set up production space and equipment, train and supervise these people, merchandise the products and services, and make our senior workshop self-supporting, if we can. "We are asking your help, not in money, but in good will and ideas: We need ideas for products for our people to produce either by hand or small machines. We also need and welcome ideas and suggestions for all the other phases of our endeavor." Martin A. Jordan, president of Kiwanis Foundation of suburban Wauwatosa, writes us: "At the outset, because of the smallness of our operating budget, we will be providing mostly job shop service to industry. This will probably range all the way from gathering and folding on down to salvaging of parts. Later, if conditions permit, we expect to get into other forms of light manufacturing, drafting, engineering, model making, packaging and assembling, and also provide outservice and field service. Our object is to have a minimum of 10 people employed by the end of 1959 and a minimum of 250 employed by the end of 1961. We think that we see possibilities of far exceeding both of these goals." 2. What can you do, is a question any jobseeker may expect to be asked when he applies for a job. Senior citizens of Eldora, Iowa, asked themselves this question as a group. Some wanted employment. Some wanted to engage in community services. Therefore, they undertook a joint study with the chamber of commerce and the Kiwanis Club and compiled 12 job descriptions which they regarded as suitable to their interests and abilities. The jobs: flag placer, ticket seller, sign painter, interior decorator, landscape architect, parade marshal, traffic director, questionnaire distributor, data solicitor, loudspeaker announcer, tabulator, typist. The job descriptions will be the basis for future projects to provide useful activities for members of the group. 3. Salt Lake City, Utah, club has a program to provide magazines, books, games, records, puzzles and similar items to sponsored nursing homes for senior citizens. This project is attracting wide attention from the members of the club and many are apparently signed up to participate. These three illustrations serve only to further demonstrate the concern of local clubs for the welfare of the senior citizens. The housing project as illustrated by the work of the clubs in Canada, the trailer camp occupied to a large degree by older people at Bradenton, Fla., and the wide variety of activities carried on by the Batavia, N.Y. club, serve also to further illustrate the varying types of projects in which Kiawanis clubs have an interest. STATEMENT OF MRS. CHARLES HYMES, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN Hon. PAT MCNAMARA, Chairman, Subcommittee on Problems of the Aged and Aging, AUGUST 24, 1959. SIR: We were happy to receive your request for our views on a series of questions relating to the problems of the aged and aging, and we shall attempt to set forth below our position on some of the questions raised in your letter. The interest of the National Council of Jewish Women in the problems of the aging is an outgrowth of one of the primary objectives of the organization: improving social services for all groups in the community and meeting emerging needs. Scientific studies and statistical projections indicated some years ago that the size of our older population will continue to increase and that special needs will have to be met by the community, the State and the Nation. On the basis of these findings, our organization pioneered in providing services for older adults and more than 10 years ago began its program of recreation for the aging. In the beginning our activities were confined principally to recreation, but our concept was and is a broad one. Through the years, we have extended our interest to many other service programs important to older people. As an illustration, "Conference on the Aging," our guide for community factfinding, education and action encouraged our members to involve the total community in giving consideration to needs of the aging. A fairly large number of our sections used this material and successfully initiated needed community programs, identified during the course of their research and the conference sessions, involving the services of volunteers and professionals. At the present time there are approximately 200 programs for older adults sponsored by NCJW sections. The majority of these are clubs and centers with a variety of recreational, educational and community activity. Services of a similar nature are also given to residents of homes and institutions for the aging. In increasing numbers, our volunteers are engaged in friendly visiting programs under professional supervision, projects concerned with securing jobs for older people and occupational workshops. Some of the projects are operated and financed solely by our sections; others are cosponsored with community agen cies or organizations such as the Jewish community center, the municipal recreation department, the department of public welfare or other civic or fraternal organizations. Our volunteers work with professional personnel wherever avail. able and are given specific training for the job they are to do. They are en couraged to promote centralized planning on the local level so that needs will be met as efficiently and effectively as possible. Among the major problems of the aging, in addition to recreational and educational needs in which our experience has been the broadest, are housing, medical care, and income maintenance. At our last biennial convention, held in Los Angeles, Calif., in February 1959, our delegates adopted the following resolutions: "V. INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL WELFARE "The National Council of Jewish Women, dedicated to the Jewish tradition of devotion to the family, believes that the full development of the child depends upon the home and the factors that contribute to a strong family life, and that the dignity of the individual as well as the health of the family and the total community is basic to a free society. By fully utilizing our resources as a Nation through governmental and voluntary services, it is possible to insure the highest level of opportunity for growth of which each individual is capable: It, therefore, "Resolves- "(1) Social security.—To work for a social security program which will provide: "(a) Financial protection for all employers, employees, or self-employed during unemployment, sickness, disability, and old age, and which will provide economic security for surviving dependents. "(b) Federal grants-in-aid to assist the States to aid families and individuals in financial need, not eligible for aid under the existing public assistance categories. "(c) The prohibition of unrestricted public access to the names of recipients of public assistance. "(d) Elimination of requirements for stipulated residence periods as an eligibility factor for public assistance. "(2) Housing and rent control.-To urge the extension of carefully planned National, State, and local housing programs to low- and middle-income families, with special consideration for the aged, so that adequate housing is available to all, without discrimination because of race or religious belief. "To support continuation of temporary controls on rents in those States and communities where it is still needed. (3) Metropolitan planning.-To support plans and programs of metropolitan development which will provide facilities and services for a sound community life. "(4) Groups with special needs.-To endorse and cooperate with public and voluntary organizations working toward the development of medical, occupational, educational, recreational and housing programs and facilities for groups with special needs. "(5) Services.-To support measures and programs which will make available to all, without regard to race, creed or age on a nonsegregated basis: "(a) Health, educational, and recreational facilities. "(b) Adequate social services. "(c) Full legal protection and special court facilities. "(6) Mental and physical illness.-To endorse programs of health authorities and approved voluntary organizations for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and control of physical and mental illness together with programs for rehabilitation. "To endorse the principle of nationwide health insurance." To implement these resolutions, the National Council of Jewish Women strongly supports the Housing Act of 1959, S. 57, which provides for a housing program for the elderly in the form of direct loans and FHA guarantees. We also support medical care and hospitalization benefits and the Forand bill, H.R. 4700, is under active consideration although the specific provisions have not been endorsed by us as yet. In view of the fact that only one-fifth of the population over 65 years of age has an annual income over $2,000, the financial adequacy of these individuals to meet essential needs is severely limited. Public programs should be instituted and the Federal Government has an important part to play in the support and further development of programs designed to meet the needs of the elderly in these three areas. Since the life expectancy of individuals has increased to such a great extent, it is our philosophy that older people should have opportunities to retire to, rather than from, a full life. Because of this the National Council of Jewish Women has pioneered in working with the aging and expects to continue in this field on an ever-expanding scale. We are enclosing, for the information of the committee, materials describing our position and activities in the field of the aging. If we can supply any additional information, we shall be very glad to do so. Sincerely yours, STATEMENT OF HOWARD JEFFREY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN RECREATION SOCIETY, INC., WASHINGTON, D.C. At all levels of government all those interested in aging need to be represented on the central steering committee. This makes sure that people who are interested in every phase of the aging are included. Recreation for the aging touches on another large project, namely what people do and don't do with the time that is their own. For the aging, this is most of the time. There is also the question of what they can afford, and we want to be sure that everything that is offered them is not entirely free. The formation of clubs. groups, and the establishment of programs that the aging can accomplish in their own way, doing what they want to do, is very important. There are many groups of the aging in the city which are sponsored by societies, clubs, churches, and other agencies known as Golden Age Clubs. Your committee has asked for an analytical evaluation of our activities in terms of recreation with an indication of additional responsibilities which might logically be undertaken. Recreation workers believe that there should be a |