Post War Housing Problems
April 24, 2008 – 6:00 amTo continue the housing problem just one more day, I’ll mention some of the post-war difficulties as noted in my book, We Knew We Were at War: Women Remember World War II. As the soldiers and sailors came home, married, and established families, the housing crunch was severe.
Jean tells us that when her Navy husband returned after two years service in the Pacific Theater of War, not only was he very thin and suffering from a fungus infection, but they had no place to live. Housing was not an option, so they moved in with her parents, much as they disliked being an extra burden to them. They did manage to buy land shortly, and because Louis was a veteran, he had priority for building materials.
We learn from Peg and Buck that when he returned from service, he made use of the GI bill to obtain his Masters Degree in Mathematics. They lived in a converted Army barracks on the campus of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, where their first child was born.
Esther reminds us of the OPA (Office of Price Administration), created to keep prices from skyrocketing. She reports that, because rental fees were frozen by the OPA, she and her newly married husband Merrill found an apartment in Chalfont, Pennsylvania for the monthly rent of $41.00.
When Bob returned from the Philippines, he was assigned to the Civilian Production Administration as an Administrative Analyst in Washington, D.C. Housing was very scarce, and June tells us that they felt fortunate to find a rental property on Columbia Pike in Arlington, Virginia. It was an old house with a coal furnace. Nevertheless, the war was over and they were happy to be together again.
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