The Post-War Housing Shortage}
Written by Author on October 19th, 2009The Post-War Housing Shortage}
Sometimes described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to fix a very serious issue has in time come to be called `the housing boom’. Without a doubt it was a boom in demand and activity. There was also a notable increase in house ownership, achieved in many cases through heroic individual effort and years of sacrifice.
Changing social attitudes offered new opportunities, but also narrowed the options. Emphasis in government housing schemes was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the sale of affordable housing. At a time when various influencers had reduced the availability of rental houses, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering greater opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a jump in constuction costs.
Top on the list of factors linked to rising building costs were the passing of legislation for the 40-hour week, and marked increases in the cost of building materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building labourer a higher wage than a tradesman had received in early 1946.
To keep both labourer and tradesman productively employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare occurrence in those times. A shortage of skilled workers also meant lower quality work and a blow out in construction time.
Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen contingencies. Under commonwealth price control, builders were entitled to a 10 per cent `profit’ on the contract price. Above award payments were not recognised in price control and yet builders often found a need to pay above award rates to ensure house completion.
Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, hardwood flooring was suddenly unprocurable, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic flooring material.
With local cement taking forever to turn up, a truckload from interstate was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring had, by 1948, increased 100 per cent in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and terracotta roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of quality paint costing around 30s ($3) in 1939 had risen some 40 per cent by 1948.
When added to rising costs and shortages of materials the government restrictions, limiting the area of a new dwelling to 12 squares (111.48 square metres) for a timber house and 1250 square feet (116.12 square metres) for a brick house, completed the recipe for an imposed economy.
The economical floor plan was essential; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and generous porches were deleted, reducing the shade at the front entrance to a minimum area. Ceiling heights had been gradually reduced from the turn of the century and were now usually nine feet (2745 mm). Until the government construction restrictions were lifted in 1952 the acceptance of no-nonsense functionalism was as much an imposed state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.
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