The Nation - News from May 28, 1985

In a major shift in policy, a low-income-oriented housing group said that federally assisted housing programs should emphasize the use of existing housing to meet the needs of the poor. “What has been built up over decades with considerable positive result ought not to be lightly cast aside,” the National Leased Housing Assn. said in a new report, released in Washington. But at the same time, the group--a combination of public housing authorities, private developers, nonprofit groups and housing financiers--said there are circumstances that justify new construction or substantial rehabilitation programs to meet the housing needs of low-income people.