Evening star., 1934-06-10
National Housing Survey
Makes Striking Showing
BY HARDEN COLFAX.

A striking commentary on what
Americans are pleased to call theiI
high standard Of living-this is the
way a cabinet officer referred this
week to the facts brought out by q
Federal Government housing survey
At least 20 per cent Of the families OF
the Nation, it reports, are living under
conditions which show "a very serious
housing shortage"
In his message to Congress regard
ing plans of the Government to stimu-
late the construction industry through
Federal aid to building and the
financing of building. President Roose-
welt pointed out the necessity for re-
pairs of homes "for the protection Of
health and safety" Many homes, he
said, are in an almost completely de-
cayed condition and not fit for human
habitation. They need repairing ano
undermining to bring them up to the
standard Of the times. Many new
homes are now needed to replace those
not worth repairing.
This Government survey, a "reaI
property inventory" carried on by q
unit of the Bureau of Foreign anc
Domestic Commerce and financed BY
the c. w. A., indicates that more thar
go per cent of all dwellings through
out the country are in need of repair
while almost 3 per cent are called
on statistics from 20 cities. the study
when completed will include data on
100 cities.
X X
A large proportion of the residen-
tial structures considered by this real
property inventory are found to be in
need of some repairs. New building
particularly of residences, has been
generally curtailed during the past five
years. Reports from the first 20 cities
show approximately 62 per cent OF
the homes are in need of major re-
pairs. Only per cent of all resi-
dences in these cities were built since
January /, 1929. The potential de-
mand for additinal living quarters Is
indicated by the fact that 63 pei
cent of the families questioned stated
that they intended to set up homes
of their own as soon as financial con-
ditions permitted them to do so.
Responses received from business
firms, it was stated at the Department
OF Commerce, indicate that manufac-
turers and distributors of building ma
ter1al expect the results of this study
to prove Of great value in gauging
sales campaigns for repairing, mod
ernizing, rebuilding and installing
sanitary and heating facilities and
other modern conveniences. The in
formation will probably also aid in
city planning, slum clearance, low
cost housing and other realty pro-
jects.
The figures collected show that,
while rents generally have been stead
lily falling during the past four years,
building costs have been advancing.
This has been one of the principal
reasons for the paralysis of the con-
struction industry during recent
months. In spite of these handicaps,
however, the Department of Com
merce believes that the manufacturers
and distributors see business ahead
of them. Some of them indicate that
extensive advertising campaigns are
to be put on in certain cities to
arouse public sentiment.
Architects, builders and engineers
are already beginning to take ad-
vantage of the new data brought to
their attention. The manufacturers
of electrical apparatus and heating
supplies seem to be particularly in
terested. This arousins of public in
terest will, of course, be of Importance
also as an aid to unemployment In
industry.
(Copyright. 1e34.)