Evening star., 1942-10-28
NHAP| lea briinqs
Hundredsof
Housing Offers
Office Building, Barn,
Part of Golf Club
Listed for Conversion

''->.>~~~oSO~~
responding enthusiastically to the
National Housing Agency's home
conversion program to provide hous-
ing for war workers here.
Literally hundreds of letters have
been received at the War Housing
Center, at Pennsylvania avenue and
Fourteenth street NV, Offering
homes, Office buildings-and even q
barn and part of golf club-for
conversion in the housing emer-
gency.
A dining room and ball room at
the Bannockburn Golf and Country
Club, just north of Glen Echo,
which said "our members would be
happy to rent it it would help the
workers now in congested locations
In Washington" have been offered
for conversion to dormitory use.
Meals on the premises and conven-
lent transportation were promised.
Each room could be made over to
house from 10 to 20 persons, it was
estimated.
Small Units Preferred.
The MIA is interested now in OBJ
tainig small units and not dormi-
tories, but the Banockburn offer has
been taken uder advisement.
A downtown building, with so
offices and stores on the ground floor
ideally suited to be converted for
housing purposes" also has been
presented to Joseph P. Anderson,
director of the War Housing Center,
as a possibility.
Many letters Offering property for
conversion use the language OF a
real estate prospectus and are
studded with such phrases as:
Twenty minutes from downtown" !"
convenient to car and bus lines" :"
ideally suited"
Ten small houses, with four rooms
each, in Georgetown, were offered to
the program by the owner, who
promised to pay all real estate taxes
While you are using same, with the
understanding that said houses will
be returned to me after the 'dura-
tion.'"
Small Barn Offered.
The owner of a small barn "one
block from two bus lines and one
mile from the Pentagon Building"
saidhe thought it could be converted
to suitable living quarters for less
than $500.
Many other houses in the District
and nearby areas have been offered
as possibilities for conversion. The
War Housing Center sends each per-
ron who suggests property prelim-
,inary form for brief description OF
the property.
II the address shown on this lies
within one of the II sections OF
washington and nearby Virginia
designated as districts where the
Government will lease and remodel
residences for war workers, an ap-
plication to lease is sent to the own
er. A technician was to start work
today on applications already re-
ceived, searching out those most
readily convertible.
$50 Forms Already Returned.
It is expected that almost 200 ap-
plications will have been received by
the end Of the week About $50 pre-
liminary forms already have been
returned and that many more are
on the way, Mr.. Anderson said.
The preliminary blank has not
been sent out in the case of only one
item of property reported to the
War Housing Center. The suggestion
that large home in the Northwest
would be ideal for conversion to war
housing came in a letter from an
anonymous neighbor, which read, in
part:
"If you met her (the owner on
the street you would not think she
was the owner of Is cents. She is
also we'll to do. 1t would be a
grand place to house Government
workers. ;" Looks like hotel and
just that dirty old woman in it. ="
I am not trying to do her any harm,
but 1t will improve the street and do
her good. y Knock on the door,
the bell don't ring"