Evening star., 1941-01-06
Defense Commission
Urges 5000 More
Workers Dwellings
1,774 Are Proposed
To Meet Shortage
In District Area

widespread localities, including tn
District of Columbia where acut
shortages in living facilities hav
been found to exist.
On another defense front. tn
Army announced supervision of it
s1,137000,000 emergency building
program had been decentrahzed t,
speed construction of camps, can
tonments and munitions factories
Secretary of War Stimson declared
recently that Army housing was tw'
to 10 weeks behind schedule.
Nine officers were named to super
wise the construction zones which
will correspond to the nine corp
areas of the Army They will b'
empowered to make decisions which
hitherto have encountered delay
while being forwarded to Washing
ton. Mai. Gen. Edmund B. Gregory
the ouartermaster general, sum
moned them to a conference here
Wednesday with 1t. Col. Brehon B
Somervell, new head of the Quarter
master Construction Division. Maj
J. H. Burgheim will supervise con-
struction in this area, with head.
quarters in Baltimore.
Declaring that existing or lmpend'
ing lack of dwellings in the areas
named would impede the national
defense program. the commission
announced that appropriate agen-
cies had been authorized to proceed
At once with housing construction
with funds provided by Congress
for this purpose.
It was found that housing needs
in these instances would not be pro-
vided by private capital, the an
nouncement stated.
A total of l,774 family dwelling
units in the Washington area was
proposed.
Other localities, at which present
housing facilities and projects under
contract were found to be made
ouate, were Newport. R. l.; Ports
mouth, N. H; Panama Canal Zone;
Ponce. P. R; Fort Knox. KY: York
town. Va: Columbia, S. c.: Corpus
Christi, Tex; Charleston, S. c., and
Island Oahu, T. H.
Defense Commission.
The Defense Commission also de-
clared in its announcement that
present vacancies in the District,
Arlington and Alexandria total
10000 family units. These vacancies
are not available for defense hous-
ing needs, the report added, because
rents are higher than the enlisted
personnel can afford to pay or be-
cause OF their locations
More than $4,000 dwelling units
were built in Washington in 1889
the report continued, but many of
these units are for higher-income
families, or are for sale rather than
rent.
Private Capital Uninterested.
The commission pointed out spe-
ciically that in the District private
construction cannot take care of
the entire housing job because the
rents which families of enlisted men
can afford to pay are not sufficient
to induce private capital to provide
adequate housing" and "a part of
the need for housing for civilian
employees of the Navy is of such un-
certain duration that the risk in
volved is greater than private en-
terpriSe can afford to take"
OF the LIZA family units recon-
mended for construction in the Dis
trict, Arlington and Alexandra, SAG
units are to be built by private
firms and the rest by the Navy and
the Public Building Administration.
1000 at Naval Air Station.
The Naval Air Station at Ana
costa will have the largest con-
struction program. with 200 units
to be built by individuals and 800
by the Navy. The Defense Com
mission reports indicated they were
needed Immediately. No rent min
imum can. of course, be placed on
the private building, but the tenta-
tive estimate of the Government
project rents range from sl1 to S26
a month. The buildings, arranged
as row houses and a few apart
mentS, will be for enlisted men and
their families and will be con-
struCted of brick Immediately OH
the reservation. Three hundred Will
he for civilian employees at the
Navy Yard and Anacostia and those
rentals will range from $40 to $40
a month.
The Naval Torpedo Station at
Alexandria will receive 900 family
units. Of these, 300 will be con-
structed by private concerns and
the Navy announced they will be
needed April l. The Navy will con-
Struct the remaining 300 and they
will be completed by September l.
The units for civilian use will have
a tentative monthly rental OF S2O
10 $50. while the units constructed
for enlisted men will be slightly
lower. The buildings, also of brick,
will be built off the torpedo reServa-
ton and will consist of row houses
and apartments.
Other Projects.
The next largest project will be
at the Army medical center and will
contain 10 units with monthly
rental of SIG to $40 They will be
built off the military reservation
and will be reserved for use of Ell
listed men and their families. Con-
struction will be by the Federal
Works Agency and they are needed
for immediate use, defense commits
sion sources said.
At the Arlington contonment, 35
family units will be constructed by
the F. w. A for enlisted men at a
monthly rental of SIG to $40. Like
the others they will be away from
the military reservation but very
close to it. Here also the project
was announced as needed immed-
lately.
Adjacent to the Army War College
private individuals will construct 49
units at rentals ranging from $25
to $50 a month, and the Federal
Works Agency will construct 20