Negro Government Economist Asks FHA to Insure Rights of Home Buyers Under President's Executive Order

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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 
1O COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 

DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY 
President Director-Counsel Associate Counsel 

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NEGRO GOVERNMENT ECONOMIST ASKS FHA 
TO INSURE RIGHTS OF HOME BUYERS 

UNDER PRESIDENT'S EXECUTIVE ORDER 
April 20, 1963 

‘IEW YORK -- A government economist who was denied a home in a Levitt 

& Sons housing development because he is a Negro, asked the Federal 

Housing Administration today to take "further action" against the 

builder under the provisions of the President's Executive Order 

against discrimination in housing. 

The request by Karl D, Gregory of Washington, D. C. was revealed 

in a letter sent yesterday to Commissioner Philip N. Brownstein of the 

Federal Housing Administration, The letter noted that Mr. Gregory and 

his attorney, Mrs. Constance Baker Motley, met with Mr. Adolphus 

Protho, General Counsel of the FHA and Oliver Hill, Assistant to 

Commissioner Brownstein, in a conference on Wednesday. Mrs. Motley 

is Associate Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund 

in New York, 

Mr, Gregory submitted his complaint to the FHA on December 17, 

1962, alleging that Levitt & Sons refused to sell him a house in their 

Belair development at Bowie, Md. solely because of his race. The FHA 

found that his complaint was justified and fell within the purview of 

Section 102 of the President's housing order of November 20, 

Mr. Gregory was notified by Commissioner Brownstein early this 

year that after two conferences with Mr, Levitt he had been unsuccess- 

ful in getting him to abandon his "all-white" policy. The letter 

stated there was "nothing further" the FHA could do. Mr. Gregory 

replied on March 26th that he was not satisfied with this answer, He 

retained Mrs. Motley and requested the meeting with FHA officials 

which was held last week. 

Mr, Gregory moved from Detroit in September 1961 to work in the 

Executive Office of the President for the Bureau of the Budget. He 

earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan and was 



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assistant professor of economics at Wayne State University before his 

government appointment. 

In a statement made in January, he recounted his frustrating 

attempts to obtain adequate housing for his family in Washington. 

His wife is now expecting a second child and they live in a four-room 

house which he has said is "more inadequate than ever for our needs." 

Mrs. Motley said today, "We think that the FHA has not done all 

that it can to enforce the President's Executive Order for housing 

which was insured prior to the effective date of the order. We cer- 

tainly intend to do what we can to get the Executive Order fully 

implemented by FHA," 

Mr. Gregory's letter said, in part, "It is inconceivable to me 

that the President's Executive Order...should be of so little prac- 

tical benefit to those of us who have been so long deprived of equal 

opportunity to secure decent, safe and sanitary housing." He suggestec 

that the FHA: 

(1) Recommend to the President that his Executive Order be 

extended to cover previously existing FHA mortgage insured housing; 

(2) Extend the order to housing financed by savings and loan 

institutions insured by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board; 

(3) Refuse to grant FHA mortgage insurance commitments to 

developers who violate the public policy of the United States by con- 

tinuing to discriminate against Negro applicants, even when such 

housing was insured prior to the effective date of the President's 

order; 

(4) Ask the Attorney General of the United States to institute 

legal action against Levitt & Sons, Inc, to secure their compliance; 

and 

(5) Require FHA's local insurance offices to make available to 

the public a list of all housing in an area for which FHA commitments 

have been issued. 

Levitt & Sons is one of the nation's largest home builders. He 

has developed Levittowns in Long Island, N. Y., Pennsylvania, New 

Jersey--all since World War II--and initiated building ventures in 

Puerto Rico, Paris, Matteawan, N. J. and the Belair project. The 

originally all-white New Jersey Levittown development was sued by the 

NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the mid-1950's. Mr. Levitt lost and 

homes are now sold to Negroes ing the New Jersey development.