Evening star., 1948-10-31
Tin Foxholes'
Still Crowded
10000 Vets Prepare for
Third Winter in
Quonsets
By Jack R. Ryon

NEW YORK-More than 100000
veterans and their wives and chill
dren in this country are digging in
again for their third winter in "tin
foxholes."
That's what they've dubbed those
Quonset huts which along with other
types of emergency dwellings have
been their homes since the fall of
1916.
Spokesman for the Public Housing
Administration say there are 219,284
family housing units of this Tempo
rary. nature in veterans projects.
All are fully occupied and nearly
all have long waiting lists, even
though this was to have been the
final yearf for some of those projects.
Only a Few Move
A small percentage of the original
tenants has managed to go else
where. But the turnover is described
as almost negligible"
Take the New York City area, for
example, where 10,255 families live
in Quonsets and other kinds Of
metal, plywood or frame "prefab"
units of the strictly temporary type.
Here the need is so great that the
few vacancies which develop go
only to the top priority, desperate"
families.
Name any variation of housing
Woe-families evicted with a new
baby due momentarily, sick chill
dren, injured fathers, folks found
living in automobiles or coal bins
we have them all" said Alex Moffat,
chief of the city's temporary housing
division.
This desperate list has remained
about 600-strong ever since the wars
end. Every day or so some of these
people find some way to manage,
and we strike them of the list. But
new emergency cases keep pouring
in, and the total stays about the
same"
It's easy to see why a snug Quon-
set is attractive to such family, or
to one which has long been doubled
up with relatives or crowded into
unsatisfactory quarters.
Hundreds of veterans across the
country have preferred to remain in
temporary projects even when Of
fered permanent apartments at the
same or even lower rent
Some Like 1t
Mr.. Moffat says. 16 per cent Of the
veterans in temporary units, who
applied once for New York's perma-
nent projects, later failed to answer
Just such offers.
Why? Let typical young Quon.
set veteran answer that:
Many of us had apartments in
town before the war, but living out
in the suburbs has made us want
homes of our own. At present
prices, few of us can afford them.
So we just want to sweat it out here
until we can"
Bob Kushner, camera repairman,
and his pretty young wife have two
small children. They pay $3.50 a
month for their four room quonset.
That includes gas and electricity.
but not heating, which may run 81
a day in the coldest months.
In the Jamaica Bay project there
are 1000 such families, some with
as many as six or seven children.
The apartments range from three
room units, renting for $29. to five
room units, at $40.
Fuel Is Major Worry
Biggest worry as these families
face. the coming winter Is fuel. All
the 10,255 temporary dwellings in
the Metropolitan Area are heated
with kerosene, and the shortage that
followed New York's record snow
storm last December left hundreds
Of shivering tenants with meager
fuel rations.
The city housing authority has
stockpiled 100000 gallons of kerosene
Tor such an emergency this winter.
Mr.. Moffat is confident this will be
The veterans, calculating how
ong the reserve would last with
each family BURNING four to five
gallons day, are nd 30 sure.
Distributed By the Associated Press.l