Evening star., 1943-01-15
-Four Dormitorv
Projects Here
Held Up
Two Others Cancelled
Pending Resurvey
Of Housing Needs

Pending kesurvey
Of Housing Needs
Plans to construct four girl dor
mitory projects with g. capacity o
more than 1000 beds have beer
held up pending "resurvey O.
housing needs" in the metropolitan
Area, 1t was learned yesterday.
Two other projects involving
1000 beds have been cancelled out.
right with the discovery that thu
four dormitories faced indefinite
postponement."
This was learned during toul
of Federal Housing projects in the
Metropolitan Area -. some $4,000
units costing an estimated $85 5,000,-
900, conducted by officials of the
Federal Public Housing Authority
and the District Alley Dwelling
Authority.
Joseph c. Gray, assistant to Oliver
c. winston, FPHA director, revealed
the delay, saying conferences be-
tween various Federal departments
were being held with view towards
resurveying war housing needs In
this area.
Questionnaires Sent Out.
Questionnaires are being sent
girls in Government offices, includ-
ing the giant Pentagon Building to
determine their housing conditions
and the Civil Service Commission
and related agencies are being
queried as to number OF workers
expected to pour into Washington
within the next few months.
Contrary to what appears to be
popular belief, it was said, many
Federal officials expect falling-off
in the number of new war workers
within the next eight months with
q corresponding drop in need for
additional housing accommodations.
Projects affected by the move are
the Arlington Farms project, with a
total of 1888 beds, located off Ar
lington Ridge road in Arlington,
Va; the East Potomac Park project,
with a contemplated 2,716 beds, 10
Gated at the East Potomac Park golf
course; the Stadium project, with
6s4 beds, located at Twenty-second
and B streets Sc, and another pro-
ject with TIT beds, the site for which
had not been selected.
Cancelled Outright.
Projects cancelled outright were
two planned for construction at the
Union Station Plaza, Mr.. Gray said,
with 1000 beds. Delay was at first
met, Mr.. Gray said, in obtaining
clearance for construction of the
units. When the question OF real
housing need was injected into the
picture, 1t was decided to cancel the
projects.
Four other dormitory projects
with 1885 beds are in various stages
of completion. ranging from the 70
per cent of the second Arlington
Farms project, with 4.332 beds, To-
Gated north of the Pentagon Build
ing, to the so per cent of the West
Potomac Park project, with 1891
beds, and the go per cent OF the
Suitland project, with 698 beds, To-
Gated at Silver Hill road, south OF
Suitland road. Prince Georges
County, Md. The Langston project,
with 1,014 beds, located at Oklahoma
avenue, between Twenty first and
Twenty fourth streets NE, Is 50 per
cent completed, Mr.. Gray said.
The tour was conducted for news
papermen and included besides Mr..
Gray, John Ihlder, District Alley
Dwelling Authority head; Miles
Frisbee. Mr.. Winston's assistant, and
Duncan Price, also with the FPHA.
First Project Visited.
First project visited was one OF
the three Cameron Valley projects
in Alexandria, Va.
Although residents declared them
selves happy in their home an "ex-
pensive headache as one house
holder described it, developed when
it was learned that through mis-
take" in gas rates, some OF the
residents are paying more for heat
ing and cooking gas than they
are for rent.
One housewife revealed that al
though she paid $3.50 month rent
for her three-bedroom home, she
paid $35 last month for gas.
Mr.. Gray explained that due to
difficulties in obtaining gas meters
all homes stemmed from a master
meter" which meant that there was
a drain on the source from some
homes. This, coupled with a mis-
take" in arranging for gas rates,
mad raised rates in all homes at the
project.
He said that the difficulties were
being roned out and he expected
the gas bills there to be cut one-half
or more.
"Experimental' Homes.
Four types of experimental
homes were seen at the Cameron
Valley project, with varying de-
grees of success in construction
worth, the officials observed.
The types were the so-called
"rammed earth" plan of construc-
ton, in which a mixture of sand
clay and cement and water are
poured into forms and dried" by
pounding from electric hammers;
the bitulithic block construction, ir
which sand and clay are wet with
oil and poured into forms.
A third method is the pre-cast
concrete slab construction. Here
the concrete slabs are readymade
and form the outside of the house
The fourth method Is a combina-
ton of the rammed earth and
bitulithic block methods.
Also visited was the Thirty-fifth
street project, located at Thirty
fifth and Reservoir road at Dent
place NV, site of IS units of this
areas 1000 "demountable" projects
developed by the Alley Dwelling Au-
thority.
More than half of this areas "a
projects, consisting of 35,491 units
are designed for permanency, Mr..
Gray said.
He said that the 35,491 figure rep
resented the total number of Fed
eral housing projects in the WASH
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