The Evolution of Design Characteristics During the Post-Second World War Housing Boom: The US Experience

Abstract

to stimulate the private housing market. The federal government passed the National Housing Act which guaranteed low-interest mortgages of up to 80 per cent of the value of a home.1 The National Housing Act was supervised by the specially created Federal Housing Authority (FHA); the programme met with limited success during the Depression, when capital was scarce, and it ground to a halt during the war due to the appropriation of all building materials for the war effort. As a consequence, the post-war period was characterized by inflated expectations and a boom in the demand for housing. For the consumer, the legacy of depressed hopes, wartime frugality, and self-denial was replaced by the anticipation of plentiful, new, ideal family homes. However, demand so far exceeded supply that potential buyers experienced long delays in obtaining their houses. In 1944, the Veterans Administration had created the Veterans' Mortgage Guarantee Programme, later known as the GI's Bill of Rights. Administered by the FHA, this programme enabled veterans to borrow the entire appraised value of an approved house without a down-payment. The significance of the GI's Bill of Rights to the housing industry was directly related to the guidelines set for qualified housing: the programme limited the price range of the affordable post-war family house to between $6,ooo and $8,ooo, and the range in size to between 800 and i,ooo square feet. This price restriction drove architects and builders to experiment with cost-reduction strategies. The FHA also mandated and controlled the style and form of subsidized housing: builders had to conform to set government guidelines if their potential customers were to finance their homes under the programme. While the result of such control has been characterized as con-