Evening star., 1961-09-15
Builders
Boost
Economy
Continued From Poee c-l

serve this market.
In short, the industry
which opens doors to jobs
In so many lines of work,
is by no means approaching
a saturated market or the
point where it would have
to curtail operations. The
reverse is true.
To meet the housing needs
ahead, we will have to de-
velop more than four mil
lion acres of land into new
communities in this decade.
More new suburbs will spring
up all around our cities
and in most instances. they
will be further from the CEN
tral city than they now are.
Again, they will mean jobs
for road builders, telephone
linemen, clerks in super
markets and furniture max
ers.
Todoy's Homes Better
Today's new homes are
better built than ever be-
fore. This is the result of
millions Of dollars spent by
the industry on research to
improve building techniques
and procedures. Many of the
factors that make today's
home a better one are hid
den from the eye. For in
stance, the improved insula-
tion makes today's home a
more compact unit, free of
winter drafts and chills.
There is no longer the need
to close off a room because
it is hard to heat-nor is
there need to move chairs
away from a window because
of the winter cold.
The liveability, comfort
and convenience that set
recent homes apart, are the
results of good planning and
good design. One of the
happy developments Of re-
cent years is that home
builders and architects are
working as teams and have
a better understanding of
each others problems and
needs. This trend is certain
to continue, on an ac-
celerated basis.
American families are as
interested in improving their
housing situation as the in
dustry is in making this pos
sible for them to do so by
producing better homes. A
truly remarkable improve
ment in the housing picture
got under way about 1850. In
the next eight years, $780,
900 housing units were torn
down and removed from the
market. The Governments
multi-billion dollar urban re-
newal program will be a
major factor in the continu-
ance of the improvement
program.
Significant Increase
There has been a sig
nificant increase in home
ownership in this country in
the last 20 years. In 1910
only 40 per cent of our people
owned their own homes. We
had only II million home
owners in 1910.
Today more than so per
cent of American families
own their own homes. This is
a major social revolution to
which little attention has
been paid. 1t is probably the
quickest social and economic
change in the shortest period
of time in the history of our
own or any other people.
1t wasn't too long ago that
many families did not &C
quire homes of their own un-
til at a comparatively late
stage. But today more young
married couples are starting
out by buying their homes.
Longer term mortgages make
this investment possible for
many. And, instead of a
collection of worthless rent
receipts, they build up an
equity in their homes.
BY 1870, the proportion of
home ownership in this
country should be close to
80 per cent. The steady climb
in personal incomes should
make this possible. The total
personal income payments
in the United States now
are more than $400 billion.
In the peak year between
World War I and II, they
were but .86 billion.
In fact, the tremendous
economic revolution that has
been taking place in the
United States has thrust up
ward a great, new, well-to-
do middle class - and this
trend should continue
trend h u d continue
Incomes Rising
The median income of
non-farm families now is
more than $4,000 a year and
is rising about 2 per cent
each year. By 1870, the me-
dian income should be we'll
over $1,000.
To put it another way, in
1850 one family in IL had an
income of $4,000 or more.
In 1857, it was one in eight
and by 1870, more than one
In four should have an in
come Of $4,000 or more a
year.
These income changes
mean that people are living
better and will continue to