Anita Lamb, age 16, of Rockland, Ill., for his question:
HOW DOES URBAN RENEWAL WORK?
Urban renewal refers to city programs to eliminate slums and replace them with improved residential, commercial or industrial areas. Some declining neighborhoods are renewed through building repair programs, cleanup campaigns or enforcement of housing and health codes. Other areas have to be destroyed completely and then rebuilt.
Urban renewal programs sometimes just try to upgrade areas that show signs of becoming slums to improve the environment generally. In the United States, cities can receive financial and technical aid from the federal government to plan and carry out urban renewal programs.
Many times a city will buy all of the land in a slum area, demolish all the buildings and then sell the cleared land for private development projects or public use. Many of the nation's largest cities have used this approach in renewing decayed downtown areas.
Sometimes cleared land will become the site of a new shopping and office center, a college or a private or public housing development. The city may also decide to build a new playground, school, hospital or some other public facility on the land.
To acquire a large enough site, a city may have to use the power of eminent domain. This power allows a city to force the sale of private property for public use.
Urban renewal projects are planned and carried out by a local public agency. The agency may be a housing authority, a department of a city government or a separate agency that handles only urban renewal problems.
Federal grants pay for either two thirds or three fourths of the net cost of an urban renewal project, depending on the size of the city. A city must first adopt a community development program that is approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Before land can be purchased for urban renewal by a city, public hearings must be held. In this way, arguments for and against a proposed urban renewal program can be brought to public attention.
Before a rundown neighborhood can be cleared, the residents and business establishment must be relocated. The city is required to provide displaced families with decent, safe and sanitary housing at prices and rents they can afford.
Financial aid is given to residents and businesses for their moving expenses and property losses. Families and elderly persons may receive government payments to help them relocate.
The federal government made its first major attempt at slum clearance in the 1930s. The Housing Act of 1937 set up the U.S. Housing Authority to help clear slums and provide public housing for low income families.
In 1949, Congress passed a bill providing for large scale slum clearance and private rebuilding of these areas. A 1954 law granted aid to cities to rehabilitate older housing.