Evening star., 1939-02-11
Private Industry
Answers Federal
Housing Challenge
Plans Detached Homes
To Be Made Available
At $1,000

Private enterprise, after months
of study and preparation, today
opened the door to- new era IN
low-cost housing in announcing the
development of individual, detached
dwellings that will be made avail
able to buyers at a cost Of from SO
cents to dollar day.
Making public for the first time
details of their 1899 national small
homes demonstration, the National
Lumber Association and the Ma
tional Retail Lumber Dealers As
sociation, co-SponSors of the pro-
gram, revealed two basic house de-
signs with dozen architectural var
iations have been developed at an
estimated construction cost of from
$4,000 to $2,500.
The two designs include a one
story house, containing living room.
two bedrooms, kitchen and bath, and
a two-story dwelling with living
room, dining room and kitchen on
the first floor and two bedrooms and
bath on the second floor. A built
in garage is included in the latter
plan.
Confer With Experts.
In developing these low-cost
homes the two associations sought
and obtained the cooperation of
leading manufacturers of building
materials and equipment, con-
ferred with housing research foun-
dations. prominent architects, home
economists and building experts.
The objective was to tackle the
problem of providing an ideal, mod
ern and livable home for the fam
lily able to pay only from SIS to $40
per month per room.
Commenting on the results of
their work, Don A. Campbell, presi-
dent Of the National Retail Lumber
Dealers Association, whose $4,000
members all over the country are
banding together to push this low
cost home program in local COM
munities, said:
Private industry has been ac-
cused of being unable to build ade-
quate shelter for the 'ill-housed
third of the Nation. 1t has been
the excuse used by the Federal Gov
ernment to invade this field with
subsidized operations that have
failed miserably to solve the prob
lem. And costly experiments in the
field OF housing continue to spread
at the expense of the American tax
payers.
In accepting the challenge, we
claim that private industry can
produce better housing at lesser cost
than can the Government under ex-
listing Federal housing schemes. Our
answer is the 1899 National Small
Homes Demonstration, a co-opera-
tive undertaking of the building in
dustry, by which we hope to demon
strate in hundreds of communities
all over the land that low-cost hous-
ing is possible under local, private
sponsorship-and it is class of
housing far superior to anything yet
developed for those in the low-in-
come brackets"
Boon" to Neglected Group.
The undertaking was described
by James G. McNary. president of
the National Lumber Manufacturers
Association, as one which should
prove boon to sadly neglected"
group of the country's population.
He said:
There has been no adequate
building product readily available
heretofore which the mass of the
people-the lower income families
could afford We now find our
selves with a backlog of demand
for better housing at lower cost,
and we believe we have the answer
to that demand"
From their Washington head
quarters, the two associations to-
day launched concerted campaign
through their State and regional
affiliates to further the construction
of demonstration dwellings in To-
cal communities, to pave the way
for widespread construction of low
cost homes in sections where the
need is apparent.