52 A.2d 866 | Conn. | 1947
This is an action for a declaratory judgment seeking a determination whether certain bonds which the board of aldermen of the defendant city has voted to issue are valid under our constitution. The bonds were to serve the purpose of defraying "the capital costs . . . involved in the temporary housing program for veterans." The board of aldermen found authority for the action in Public Act No. 3 passed at the special session of the General Assembly held in May, 1946. The provisions of that act so far as material to the inquiry before us are *546 printed in the footnote.1 The terms of the vote and the absence of the declaration required by 2 before *547 a "housing authority" can function indicate that the board was acting under the provisions of 3 of the act, which is the only section making specific provision for establishing a housing program for veterans. Whether the board was authorized to issue the bonds in question under that provision is a question not presented upon this record. The plaintiff states at the beginning of his brief, as the sole issue to be determined, the question whether the issuance of the bonds specifically to provide housing for veterans constitutes a violation of the provision of 1 of article first of the constitution that "no man, or set *548 of men are entitled to exclusive public emoluments or privileges from the community."
We very recently pointed out in the case of Lyman v. Adorno,
The situation before us differs in certain material respects from that we were considering in the Lyman case. The General Assembly did not in the act now under consideration state its purpose but the provisions of the act indicate that it was designed to relieve the untoward conditions resulting from an acute housing shortage as it particularly affected veterans of the late war. That a lack of safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations available at a reasonable rent to low income groups has a harmful effect upon the health, morals and general welfare of the community is in effect admitted in the pleadings and cannot be seriously questioned; and the General Assembly may well have concluded that private initiative *549
would not or could not successfully afford remedial measures. Allydonn Realty Corporation v. Holyoke Housing Authority,
It is a matter of common knowledge that the absence of men and women in the armed forces of the country often resulted in the break-up of homes, and that when they returned they were confronted more acutely than were those who had remained here with difficulty in finding dwelling accommodations where the family might again resume its unity, particularly safe and sanitary living quarters within the range of the low rentals which were all many of them could pay. The General Assembly might reasonably have thought that such a condition would be likely to cause a continued disunity of the family or a manner of living which would prevent a normal family life; that to add to an already existing housing shortage those who, returning, were seeking to reestablish their homes would produce overcrowding and the acceptance of unsafe or unsanitary living conditions; and that the result might well be to break up families or to subject children to conditions adverse to a sound development and tending to increase delinquency. On these and other grounds the General Assembly might have concluded that as regards the need of proper and adequate housing the situation of the veterans substantially differed from that of those members of the community who had remained in the state during the war years, and that it was reasonably *550 justified in making provision for them not afforded to other residents. We cannot hold that such a conclusion is not one which the General Assembly could reasonably reach. It is, no doubt, true that some veterans would have no more need for assistance of this kind than other members of the community, but, again as we pointed out in the Lyman case, such action by the General Assembly is not to be judged by its effect upon individual cases; the test is, could the General Assembly reasonably regard the application of the act to veterans defined in it as best adapted, as a general rule, to accomplish the purpose it had in mind?
The plaintiff relies rather heavily upon Beach v. Bradstreet,
We have found no decisions in other jurisdictions which militate against the validity of the provisions of the act before us as proper class legislation, but there are a number which support it directly or in principle. A similar statute was sustained by the Ohio Court of Common Pleas and its decision was affirmed and its opinion approved by the Court of Appeals. Columbus v. Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, 33 Ohio O. 212, 67 N.E.2d 338, 350; 68 N.E.2d 108. Examples of analogous laws *552
which have been sustained where it was claimed that they involved improper class legislation will be found in the following cases: Veterans' Welfare Board v. Riley,
To the question propounded in the reservation asking whether the proposed sale of the bonds would be in violation of the constitution of this state, we answer "No." We do not answer the question whether the bonds would be valid obligations of the defendant city, because it goes beyond the scope of the case as presented to us.
No costs will be taxed in this court to either party.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.