Rome 1
two main points:
- using mass production techniques
to build houses more efficiently
- home ownership was seen as
crucial to the functioning of democracy
Levittown was one of the most famous of the new suburbs
(actually several Levittowns)
Government loan guarantees for builders to try to reduce
the housing shortage (5 million new homes needed) and VA
mortgages
Mass production of homes:
- William Levitt's key innovation was dividing construction
up into different tasks done by different crews
- not building the house in a
factory, or even prefabricating walls large parts
- but organizing materials for
efficient production
- Like Henry Ford, his goal was to
lower the price and sell more
Home ownership, at around 41% in 1920, was seen as a social
good
- in the 1920s President Herbert Hoover started the
government doing research on more efficient home building
- see p. 24 for a strong statement of the value of
home-owning
- some reformers argued that the government should step in
and build public housing for the poor
- argued that private enterprise had failed
- at the very least the industry needed to reorganize and
adopt modern methods
Depression and war
- homebuilding would provide jobs
- National Housing Act of 1934 set up government mortgage
insurance for 20 year loans up to 80% of the value of the home
- set national standards of minimum quality for homes
- large scale builders got contracts to build housing for
workers at defense factories
- the argument for constantly improving standard of living
became a part of economics
- more belief that technological change would improve our
lives: the home of the future
- advertisements stressed single family homes in the
suburbs
After the war
- GI Bill included 30 year mortgages with no money
down--that might mean about $60 a month in payments on a
$10,000 house
- government incentives for large-scale builders
- In 1956 the home ownership rate was up to 60%
