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> The U.S. Supreme Court this fall will review a significant California case. The decision at issue came from a three-judge federal court. It struck down a state constitutional provision requiring referendum approval for low-rent public housing. Though the case deals with the referendum rather than the whole zoning issue, housing experts believe that the court eventually will rule that all communities must provide living space for the poor.
Cursed and Hissed. Even if that happens, enforcement will doubtless be a struggle. When George Romney visited Warren, Mich., in July, he learned how sensitive community feelings are. Romney was cursed and hissed, as he explained HUD's aspirations to let more of the blacks who work in Warren's auto plants live in the town.
Earlier, Warren officials had balked at HUD's insistence that the city promote open housing before federal urban renewal funds would be released. In the end, Warren got its subsidy with a minimum of concessions to HUD. Last week Romney said in an interview that the Warren incident had cost his wife Lenore 10% to 20% of the vote in the Republican Senate primary. Though he has been the strongest civil rights advocate in the Cabinet, Romney said: "I don't think you're going to bring integration to the suburban areas by federal laws that supersede all local authority." The history of the civil rights movement, however, shows that in the absence of federal pressure, change comes with painful slowness.