The Post-War Housing Shortage}

Sometimes described in the post WWII years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to address a very serious problem 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 conditions offered new opportunities, but also narrowed the choices. Emphasis in state housing social engineering was at first on rental accommodation; later there was a swing toward the sale of affordable housing. At a time when various factors had reduced the amount of rental accommodation, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering more opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a rise in constuction costs.

Top on the list of factors linked to rising building costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour working week, and drastic increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unqualified building worker a higher wage than a tradesperson had received in early 1946.

To keep both labourer and tradie economically employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare thing during this period. A shortage of skilled workers also meant lower quality building and further loss of time.

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

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

With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a truckload from across the border was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices hardwood flooring had, by 1948, doubled in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and clay roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of quality paint costing around 30s ($3) in 1939 had risen by 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 12 squares (111.48 square metres) for a timber house and 1250 square feet (116.12 square metres) for one in brick, completed the recipe for an imposed cost-cutting.

The economical floor plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and spacious porches disappeared, reducing the shade at the front of the house 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 a mandated state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.

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