Context Post war
The need for housing
With the onset of war, domestic construction concentrates on military barracks to house workers, large numbers of whom were mobilized in new labor centers scattered throughout the country, most notably in Los Angeles. Such short-term employment goes in hand with its precarious housing. Construction is distinctly military in aim, and is perfected through the rapidity and efficiency of its completion.
R
ight after the war, the military industry ceases, in part, to exist, leaving 10 million people henceforth unemployed. The 20 million women who had worked during the conflict must give back their jobs to the returning soldiers. The government must also face a shortage of singlefamily housing that is exagerated by the inefficient resumption of civilian construction since the crash of 1929, and aggravated by the conflict.
Enriched by the pragmatic methods used at the time, industry is in a position to respond to the needs of the postwar civilian population and to adapt its efforts to the incomes of the average American. The government plans the immediate construction of 5 million homes, with 12.5 million more to be built in the years to come. 20
