Evening star., 1943-10-31
More and Better Homes
Wanted by Canadians
By James Waldo Faucet.

Canada almost certainly will launch q
comprehensive housing program as soon
as the war Is over. Such an effort Is
forecast in the early reports of the
Dominion Committee on Reconstruction.
1t also Is anticipated by what has been
done by Wartime Housing, Ltd, Crown
company incorporated February %,
| 1941.
OF this emergency organization It has
been said that it Is "the largest housing
| agency Canada has ever known" Tha
construction activity which 1T thus far
has sponsored includes: 10000 houses.
III hostels, SO staff houses, 16 dining halls,
IA schools and 81 special buildings Of
different varities. At the relatively small
cost OF 5000 900, accommodation has
been provided for more than $4,000 per-
sons.
G. D. Howe, Minister o6 Msnatsuus
and Supply. explaining tbs purpose Of
the corporation, has said: Tho homo.
building program Is standardized b
1our-room and six-room types OF k,su.
lated houses, which are rented-sib1ec1
to regional conditions-at so and s25 a
month for four-room bungalows and $50
a month for six-room dwellings. Ths
houses are demountabls and were d.
signed for removal or salvage.
Communal centers have been bd1t
at large munitions plants or near war
| plants IN crowded cities. Those for men
usually accommodate 500; there ara
several such buildings. Five other COM
munal centers housing total Of 2.5oo
woman employees Of munitions plants
are completed, and others are in hand,
Wartime developments cover soma
10 Canadian communities, and gross In
come from projects already occupied or
under construction will amount to mora
than 100000 year"
Permanent houses Mr.. Howe reports
have been put up in Sarnta, Ontario.
and Edmonton, Alberta, but "the con-
structlon of permanent housing is not
the function of the company" The fact
that shelter had to be provided for
workers in industrial areas as part Of
the war effort, however, merely goes to
prove the need for durable housing IN
those same portions Of the country dur
ing the expected postwar industrial
Doom. Plants now making munitions
eventually will be changed over" IN
make automobiles, or refrigerators or
teleVlslon sets when victory has been
Won. The same personnel, more or less.
will be employed
II Is with that thought in mind that
Fro1. c. A. Curtis, representing the
housing and community planning eroun
OF the Committee on Reconstruction.
urges nation responsibility. So far
as financing is concerned, he believes
the primary obligation Should rest on
the federal government because sub.
slolzeo housing Is social service and
the costs should be related to the broad
est taxable base"
| But, Prof. Curtis insists, "the fnan-
claI aspect Is only one and In the long
run possibly not the most important
The matter Of the physical planning of
the municipalities-in particular, ths
urban areas-is most important because
no matter where the funds come from
housing developments must be located
IN some municipality and must fit into
the community. Town planning Ia
theoretically local responsibility which
has never been properly realized, but
the time has come when 1t must he
10 pulId housing without having it prop
erly ntted into the areas probable de-
VeIopment, the location of industries
OF business areas, of recreation .,S
SCHOOLS, Is an economic waste"
Ihe whole public Prof. Curtis is frank
70 confess. cares little about how tn.
financing and planning is done or nv
what authorities. All that the peopls
want Is tangible results. when on.
cohtemplates the vast expenditures on
war equipment, etc, it is a safe guess
that the community will conclude that
what can be done for these things
can be done for housing"
How much the problem of continuino
mass employment after the war is in
vowed IN the building campaign Is
illhVeo ny Prof. Curtis statement: The
1uCure OF housing holds important i'm
pllcatlons for the building trades. Thers
may not be a sufficient supply of -ba
skiileo ana essential trades, If really
| oAAi ID contemplated"
Another aspect of the whole nationa,
housing picture in Canada. as In ths
oll4leo states, is that of construction
laho and financing costs to the actual
tenant, whether he be an owner mr.
renter. Back in August 1897, DR.. w G
Clark deputy minister of finance was
taking about how the principle of co-
operation might be applied to save
money. An increasing measure of order
ana efhciency, of larger-scale methods
ana recent technical KNOWLEDGE" he
SAID, was wanted in the interest of better
homes for more people.
One of the leaders in the work of
educating" public opinion is George s.
Mooney, executive director of the Cana
dian Federation of Mayors and Munic-
lpalltles who last May declared: I'VE
are convinced that a full-scale attack
on the housing problem Is by all odds
the ranking Al priority for the tasks
OF peace. The housing conditions of the
Canadian people are far from satisfac-
tory. In the 1941 census, Is Canadian
cities, housing population of 9oOoo
ana over, were subjected to a housing
survey. Based on returns from eyerv
tenth dwelling, the survey revealed that
6l.5 per cent of the people of these cite,
lived In rented quarters; 38.5 per cent
were nome owners. OF the tenant homes,
| 53.6 Der cent paid Lac, %h.-.