Decent & Profitable

On the western edge of San Bernardino, Calif., just past the tight ranks of eucalyptus trees which shelter the city from desert-bound winds, Mayor James E. Cunningham this week helped unload the first lumber for a new housing project. It was one of this year's few U.S. developments of privately built homes intended primarily for Negroes (316 two-bedroom houses to sell for only $6,450 each).

On hand for the ceremony was the Southern-born woman who planned the project, robust, warm-hearted Mrs. Velma Grant. In only three years, she had built and sold $3,500,000 worth of new houses to Negroes in Los Angeles. No altruist, Mrs. Grant had made a profit of more than $250,000.

In spite of her Louisiana upbringing, Mrs. Grant sympathizes with the U.S. Negro's indignation at the unwritten laws which force him, in most communities, to buy only rundown houses in rundown districts. Four years ago, as a broker in a big Los Angeles real-estate firm, she took a call from another broker asking about a new house. Asked Mrs. Grant: "Is your client a Caucasian?" The answer from the caller, a Negro, was cold and angry: "No she's not, and neither am I!"

Mulling over the conversation, Mrs. Grant determined to get decent houses for Negroes, decided to build them herself. She got together over $100,000 to buy a 50-acre tract in south Los Angeles, and started looking for money to finance the building. Not a banker in town would listen to her: "Ideals are fine," one told her, 'but you must, be practical." But Mrs. Grant kept wearing them down; finally, the Bank of America, which prides itself on financing the "little fellow," agreed to stake her to a $2,290,000 loan.

Mrs. Grant cornered Los Angeles' widely sought Negro architect, Paul Williams (TIME, Jan. 26, 1948), who was buried under plans for $12 million worth of construction work. She talked him into shelving them long enough to design floor plans for her houses. To the surprise of her bankers, who know that Williams' work comes high, he charged her only $3,200.

On Sept. 15, 1946, the first of the 229 houses of her (George Washington) Carver Manor went on sale at $11,400 and $11,200 each. Some 500 Negroes swarmed over the lot. Most buyers had steady jobs as schoolteachers, policemen and firemen, were good credit risks, earned enough to furnish their homes comfortably and keep them in good repair. Mrs. Grant signed up 110 buyers the first day, had waiting lines for weeks. She is now building an additional 33 units and a $140,000 shopping center for a new 95-house annex to Carver Manor, besides the bigger, $2,000,000 project in San Bernardino.

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