Evening star., 1941-06-14
.DefenseHousinq
Chief SeesAcute
D. {. Shortages
Urges Government
To DecentruIize
To Ease Space Crisis
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Foreseeing drastic shortages"
of housing in Washington be-
cause of the influx of defense
workers, C. F. Palmer, defense
housing co-ordinator, today
urged decentralization of Gov
ernment activities "as soon as
possible" to move many of the
usual Federal peacetime func-
tions to outlying cities.
Mr.. Palmer estimated the popu-
lation of Washington would increase
by a minimum of 10000 to $4,000 in
the fiscal year beginning July l. He
issued a formal statement saying:
The transfer to the field OF
considerable volume of work now
being carried on in Washington
would provide an essential cushion
for the substantial increases now
foreseen in the employment load
here"
The housing co-ordinator said
there already were $4,000 Govern
ment workers in Washington. COM
pared with a 1l7,000 peak during
the World War.
More to Pour In.
He estimated that the number
of Government workers would in
crease at least 10000 during the next
year and 1T is estimated that three
or four people are brought in for
every new defense worker in the
Government"
Mr.. Palmer said that while the
shortage of housing was not yet
as acute as many reports would in
dicate, the situation could be re-
lieved considerably by transferring
to existing field Offices additional
work and personnel from Washing
ton in accordance with investiga-
tions now underway" He added
that he believed officials in charge
might find that considerable work
conducted in Washington by normal
agencies could just as we'll be per-
formed in field offlces."
An investigation has shown. he
said, that there are IS, ,000, 900 square
feet of vacant Office space through
out the country, considerably more
than the total of 22,500,000 square
feet now occupied by all Govern
ment operations in Washington.
A proposal recently was made at
the Capitol that the Interior De-
partment be transferred to Chicago
but Secretary Ickes Immediately
dashed cold water on it, saying there
were only 5000 Interior workers in
Washington, compared with 10000
operating through field offices.
Lower Cost Elsewhere Cited.
Mr.. Palmer said that despite the
large defense housing program in
Washington, embracing 1850 dwell
ings to be built with public funds,
as well as an additional l 1000 DOR
mitory accommodations for girls al
ready programmed. lit would not be
feasible to house with public funds
all the additional people who will
come into Washington to take de-
fense jobs"
Although Government workers
are also vital to the defense pro-
gram" the co-ordinator stated, 1T
may be much more practical to move
the activities of purely peacetime
agencies to locality where there Is
not only more housing, but also more
available Office space and other fa-
cilities. In fact, the lower costs of
living in some communities should
be an advantage to the Government
workers by such transfer. AS a
matter of fact, in many cities there
has been an exodus of population
resulting from the dislocations
caused by the defense program
Possibilities of transferring va
rious functions into the field are un-
der study in the individual depart
ments, Mr. Palmer said. The CO.
ordinator declined to make any spe-
cific suggestions on what depart
ments or functions could be moved
to other cities.