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The 1940′s Housing Shortage}

Sometimes described in the post WWII years as `the housing shortage’, the Australian effort to fix a very serious issue has in time come to be called `the housing boom’. Undoubtedly it was a boom in demand and building. There was also a notable increase in home ownership, achieved in many cases through heroic individual effort and years of sacrifice.

Changing social conditions offered new opportunities, but also reduced the options. Emphasis in state housing schemes was at first on rental accommodation; later there was a swing toward the ownership of low-cost houses. At a time when various factors had reduced the availability of rental dwellings, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering greater opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was paralleled by a rise in constuction input costs.

High 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 construction 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 tradie 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 poor quality building and a blow out in construction time.

Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen circumstances. 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 wages to ensure building completion.

Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, timber flooring was suddenly out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic timber for flooring.

With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a batch from interstate was sometimes purchased at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring had, by 1948, doubled in price. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and terracotta roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of first-grade 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 home to 1200 square feet (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 cost-cutting.

The economical plan was essential; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and spacious porches were deleted, reducing the shade at the front of the house to the absolute minimum. Ceiling heights had been gradually reduced from the turn of the century and were now typically nine feet (2745 mm). Until the government construction restrictions were lifted in 1952 the acceptance of no-nonsense functionalism was as much a mandated state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.

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