National Factors Contributing to the 1950s Housing Boom
The End of World War II
The Evening Star, August 15, 1945
On August 14, 1945, President Harry Truman interrupted evening radio broadcasts nationwide to announce Japan had surrendered and World War II was over. One immediate result was the restrictions on home building were lifted. By 1950, annual home construction surged to an all-time high of 1,692,000.
Veterans housing project, Canarsie, Brooklyn, 1946
Ed Clark/Time & Life Books Pictures/Getty ImagesThe National Housing Shortage
America's most critical post-war need was housing. Twelve years enduring the Great Depression and four years fighting World War II had halted home construction nation-wide and created a severe housing shortage.
In 1947, six million American families were living in over-crowded conditions with family or friends in cities and towns. Another 500,000 families were living in temporary war worker housing or Quonset huts. In Montgomery County, temporary housing for returning veterans and their families was located in Sligo Creek Park.
A Grateful Nation Felt Returning GIs Deserved To Own A Home
During the war, the idea that returning GIs deserved to be able to own a home was very popular with the American public. This idea was promoted in magazine ads by companies such as General Electric that made appliances new homeowners needed such as refrigerators, washing machines, and hot water heaters. The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, nicknamed the "GI Bill", created the Veterans Administration (VA) home mortgage loan program. The VA mortgage loan program gave official endorsement and financial support to the "view that the 16 million GI's of World War II should return to civilian life with a home of their own." (Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, 1985)
General Electric advertisement in Life Magazine
Source: Life Magazine May 10, 1943Congressional Bills Stimulated Housing Construction
FHA advertisement c. 1950
Courtesy of Minnesota Streetcar MuseumCongress had passed two bills to stimulate US housing construction. One, the National Housing Act of 1934, created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). It's goal was to reduce the high unemployment in the construction sector during the Great Depression by stimulating home construction nationwide. The FHA promoted this new program in advertisements such as the streetcar ad shown above. The other bill, the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, created the Veterans Administration mortgage loan program to offer low interest, low down payment, and low monthly payment mortgage loans to returning GI's who wanted to buy homes. Both the FHA and VA mortgage loan programs adhered to pre-war FHA policies and procedures. These two mortgage and construction loan programs had positive impacts and negative impacts on home ownership nationwide as described below.
Wartime Technologies Made Home Construction Cheaper and Faster
Materials and construction crew at Levittown, NY home site.
Source: University of Illinois at ChicagoNew and improved technologies developed during the war were quickly adapted for U.S. home construction, allowing homes to be built cheaper, faster, and in greater quantity. High speed machines produced large quantities of standardized, prefabricated window units, framing, stairs, and cabinets. New war-tested materials such as composition board, improved wall board, and weather resistant plywood reduced the cost of construction. Thanks to these technologies, it only took an average of two days to frame a new house, build the walls and roof, and install the windows and doors.
The volume of post-war home building was also impacted by the emergence of large-scale builders. Before 1945, a typical builder constructed fewer than five homes a year. As early as 1949, 70% of new homes nationwide were built by just 10% of home builders. By 1959, "the median single-family builder put up 22 structures" per year. (Kenneth Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States, 1985)