TABLE 1-A.-Housing demand and supply: Comparison of active nonfarm housing demand and supply during the period from Oct. 1, 1945, to Dec. 31, 1946 Gross requirements during period 1. Doubling during period: Families who voluntarily double.......... Total... Active demand during period:-.. Existing vacancies 2 New vacancies 3. New construction ‘. Total... Unsatisfied active demand at end of period 5. 1 From table 1. From table 1-D. Dwelling units released through dissolution of families by death, divorce, etc. 4, 660, 000 900, 000 1, 200, 000 2, 100, 000 2, 560, 000 295, 000 650, 000 475,000 1, 420, 000 1, 140, 000 Represents families actively in the market for standard housing accommodations who will be obliged to share existing housing units either by doubling up with one or more families or by renting rooms with light housekeeping facilities in houses occupied by other families. Source: Estimates of National Housing Agency based on various data obtained from the War and Navy TABLE 1-B.-Housing requirements: Estimated gross nonfarm housing requirements during the period from Oct. 1, 1945 10 Dec. 31, 1946 A. Married veterans without established homes: B. Single veterans who marry: Single veterans returning to nonfarm areas: Discharged prior to and not married as of Oct. 1, 1945. 1, 203, 000 Discharged during period... Total single veterans returning to nonfarm areas. Less those not married by Dec. 31, 1946--- Total... C. Nonveterans who marry: Nonveteran marriages__. Less 17 percent in nonfarm areas- Total____ 5, 440, 000 6, 643, 000 5, 375, 000 1, 268, 000 675,000 115, 000 560, 000 D. Gross additional nonfarm housing requirements - - - 3, 460, 000 1, 200, 000 Total gross nonfarm housing requirements.. 4, 660, 000 1 From table 1-C. Source: Estimates of National Housing Agency based on various data obtained from the War and Navy Departments, Selective Service, U. S. Employment Service, and U. S. Census Bureau. National Housing Agency, Office of the Administrator, Housing Market Service November 1945. TABLE 1-C.-Housing requirements: Estimated net change in nonfarm households and in double nonfarm families during the period from Apr. 1, 1940 to Oct. 1, 1945 [In thousands] Total nonfarm families as of April 1, 1940-- 29, 100 Apr. 1, 1940 to Oct. 1, 1945: New nonfarm families._ Less those not resulting in formation of new families.. 8, 600 1,700 Total nonfarm families as of Oct. 1, 1945___ Less wives of absent servicemen living with other families as of Oct. 1, 1945. 34, 400 1, 900 32, 500 Doubled families as of Apr. 1, 1940. Less civilian families undoubling by Oct. 1, 1945. Doubled civilian families as of Oct. 1, 1945... Plus married veterans doubling from Apr. 1, 1940 to Oct. 1, 1945 Total doubled nonfarm families as of Oct. 1, 1945.. Total nonfarm households as of Oct. 1, 1945.. Source: Estimates of National Housing Agency based on various data obtained from the War and Navy TABLE 1-D.-Housing supply: Estimated net change in nonfarm dwelling units available for occupancy and in vacant nonfarm dwelling units during the period from Apr. 1, 1940 to Oct. 1, 1945 [In thousands] Total nonfarm dwelling units available for occupacny Apr. 1, 1, 350 450 900 300 1, 200 31, 300 Total nonfarm dwelling units available for occupancy Oct. 1, 1945. 32, 600 Total nonfarm households as of Oct. 1, 1945 3. 31, 300 Total nonfarm dwelling units vacant and available for occupancy 1, 300 Frictional vacancies___. 300 Not marketable due to substandard condition_.. 500 Not used due to location in areas where demand will not equal supply__ 205 1, 005 295 Total vacant nonfarm dwelling units utilized during period from 1 Excludes about 800,000 nonfarm dwelling units which are seasonal or not available for sale or rent and therefore are not part of the available supply. Includes light housekeeping accommodations provided through conversions not involving any struc tural changes. From table 1-C. Source: Estimates of National Housing Agency based on various data obtained from the War and Navy Departments, Selective Service, U. S. Employment Service, and U. S. Census Bureau. National Housing Agency, Office of the Administrator, Housing Market Service, November 1945. There is a demand there of about 4,660,000 units. Of this demand, 2,900,000 units, represented by the brown portions of the bar, are on the part of married veterans without established homes and single veterans who marry. Only 560,000 units represent nonveterans who will marry. And 1,200,000 units represent a backlog of doubled families as of October 1, 1945. Senator MCFARLAND. Pardon me. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes, sir. Senator MCFARLAND. What consideration have you given to the problem of the married veterans who desire to attend the universities. and are in need of places to live while they are attending the colleges. and universities? Mr. BLANDFORD. We have given considerable consideration, Senator, and more realistically we are presently serving 50 universities, making available to them parts of our war housing supply, and I expect we shall do a good bit more of it. It is a daily matter of arrangement with them. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know how many units that is? Mr. BLANDFORD. Three or four thousand units, is it? Mr. BLANDFORD. Three or four thousand units, Senator, so far. Senator MCFARLAND. After the veterans get through school, then we won't have so many married students attending the universities, but the need is quite great at this time. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes, sir; and we are just exhausting every resource to be helpful, and I don't know of any request we have had from a university that we haven't been able to meet. We expect many more to come. Senator MCFARLAND. I shall probably have some requests to give you, if you can always meet them. (Laughter.] I am glad to know it. Mr. BLANDFORD. In the present framework, of course, the university has to have a few financial resources of its own. Senator MCFARLAND. I am afraid you may Mr. BLANDFORD. I was hoping Congress would appropriate some money so we can share that burden of moving. The CHAIRMAN. There is such a bill pending now, I think, in the House. Mr. BLANDFORD. There is an appropriation pending on the House side, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. BLANDFORD. An initial one. Senator MCFARLAND. I am glad that you are giving thought to the problem, and I know that you have done some work in the way of making available units, war housing units, but I am afraid that that won't entirely meet the need in the next 2 or 3 years in particular, as the need will grow greater. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes. Senator MCFARLAND. For the peak will probably be 3 years from now and will continue for a little while as these boys get back. 80525-46- pt. 1--6 Mr. BLANDFORD. It is going to be extremely acute during 1946, will continue clearly into 1947 and perhaps beyond. The aid that we can all give in 1946 is going to be short of the total need. We hope to turn over our whole war housing supply to veterans, either where it is or where it might be moved to, but it appears despite all our efforts that municipalities do not have the funds or the legal authority to come and get these units, and that we shall have to have some help at the Federal level to make these temporary war housing units available to the veterans. Of course, the second big line of effort is to get as much private construction going as possible, hoping Senator CARVILLE. Mr. Blandford, that suggests a question. Senator MCFARLAND. I was wondering, though, if private construction would meet this need, because it is a temporary need. Mr. BLANDFORD. At the universities I doubt it. Senator MCFARLAND. At the universities; that is what I am talking about. Mr. BLANDFORD. Unless the university foresaw some later use for the buildings. But in the cities any construction that we shall get to increase the supply of housing is helpful. Senator MCFARLAND. Pardon me for getting off on this subject. Mr. BLANDFORD. That is very pertinent. Senator CARVILLE. Mr. Blandford, that just suggests a question to me. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes? Senator CARVILLE. Now, you spoke about encouraging private industry through the housing proposition. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes, sir. Senator CARVILLE. What encouragement is being given to them? In what way? Mr. BLANDFORD. Well, of course, one of the great encouragements that they yearned for and got-I don't know whether they like it or not-is the removal of L-41-the Government did withdraw those restrictions. Beyond that, all governmental departments are contributing. Notably, the Civilian Production Administration is trying to break bottlenecks on materials, trying to stimulate production of materials. Of course, this whole legislative effort is pointed toward opening up new markets and giving them new aids. Senator CARVILLE. Of course, I assume that your ideas of private industry should take it up, and then this is to supplement in case they do not. Isn't that the idea? Mr. BLANDFORD. Well, it has the same objective of providing new aids to private enterprise to more than double its normal volume of production, and then in addition your facilities or aids which would take up the part that is left, that they haven't done. Well, referring to this chart 1, the top bar is the housing demand that we have, the veterans who are married and who have no homes, the veterans who will marry, the civilians who will marry, the 560,000, and the 1,200,000 of folks who are already doubled up. The bars below that indicate what we can do to help; and in total these bars below, which involve the use of existing vacancies, 295,000; the new vacancies that will develop, 650,000; and the very optimistic estimate of new construction built of 475,000, only add up to 1,420,000 units, contrasted with the need or the demand, theoretically, of 4,660,000, and so we are short, by the end of 1946, about 3,240,000 accommodations, and it appears that that many persons will have to live with somebody else, but it in fact represents 6,480,000 families doubled up: I mean if you count the family they move in with. It is more than 18 percent, if we use that 6,480,000 figure, of the nonfarm families as of October 1, 1945. Now, some part of that 3,240,000, or of the 6,480,000 total, will represent families who choose to double up momentarily, for one reason or another, but the big bulk of it will represent families who prefer not to, and in fact are going to be pretty badly irritated that they have to. This serious situation, whereby we may have 2,000,000 more families doubled up by the end of 1946 than we have at present, affects predominantly, it is quite clear, the families of veterans. We have some additional figures, as of September 1945, based upon a Bureau of the Census survey of the housing accommodations of veterans of World War II. Of 830,000 veterans discharged before January 1, 1945, who are married or heads of households and who are not living as roomers, 135,000 of these families are doubled up with other families, and 695,000 of these veterans' families are not doubled up with other families. In other words, only about one-sixth of the families of veterans discharged before January 1, 1945, are doubled up. But of 625,000 families of veterans discharged after January 1, 1945, who are not living as roomers, 221,000 families are doubled up with other families, while 404,000 veterans' families are not doubled up. In other words, of the families of veterans more recently discharged, more than one-third of them are doubled up, as compared with onesixth for those discharged before January 1. The situation is getting worse. Of the families- Senator MCFARLAND. That is due largely to a lack of housing, isn't it? Mr. BLANDFORD. It is due to rapid demobilization. Senator MCFARLAND. Yes. Mr. BLANDFORD. And lack of housing. Senator MCFARLAND. Lack of housing. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes. Senator MCFARLAND. Rather than lack of finances to rent or build a house? Mr. BLANDFORD. To a considerable extent, sir. There are some who are out of jobs, sic. Senator MCFARLAND. I mean generally. Mr. BLANDFORD. Broadly speaking I think that is true. Mr. BLANDFORD. That is correct, sir. Another part of this picture, just to round it out: Of the families of the men discharged, say, before January 1, 1945, 352,000 families are living in quarters which have all sanitary facilities, while 478,000 are living in quarters lacking one or more sanitary facilities. The CHAIRMAN. Which are serious. Mr. BLANDFORD. Yes. |