 Something is going to add up here. Zone air-conditioned castle with a deep breeze. Cooler for beer. Great big lawn of our bed and pub zero welcome them home. Oh sir, all this can't stop a fella from keeping his ideas. Might as well this is a long time coming. They're all here sure enough. Yes, there's no place like home. What's happened here? Back in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Are you all living here? All of them in this free room apartment. But where have Bet and Bubsy hung out? Bart is back now. He'll dig out a spot for the three of them. Uncle Rod knows. There isn't a spot in town. Not a rabbit hole. We'll see about that. A man can have resource and gumption. We'll find a spot. We'll find our home right now. Before lunch and be back. They want a roof of their own. That's all. A place of their own. Well, we'll take an apartment. This one looks nice. Sure it's nice and there is an apartment. Someone has heard of someone who knew someone who mentioned that someone might move out. Hunting a home. The most intense, prolonged, widespread, desperate hunt in history. But the hunters running into the millions. No rentals. No. No rentals since last Wednesday. But I do have a house for sale at $18,000. I should have held that house until tomorrow. I could have gotten $20,000. Any city has thousands of dwellings. There must be some spot somewhere. Somewhere. Somewhere. Somewhere. Somewhere. Somewhere. Anywhere. Anywhere. Anywhere. Anywhere. Anywhere. Some spot somewhere where they can live as a family. Everyone is to blame. There's been a lag in home construction for more than 15 years. During the past five years, the population of the United States has increased 8 million. Now there are building material shortages of all kinds. And shortages of manpower in the building crates. Everywhere citizens were aware of the emergency. In the city halls of hundreds of cities. In state legislatures. And in Washington. In the committee rooms of the National Capitol, a solution was sought. That to meet this emergency, funds and the necessary authority will be forthcoming to launch the Veterans Program. The emergency housing program is launched to help solve the housing emergency in hundreds of cities. The target, 2,700,000 homes and apartments started by the end of 1947. This can't be done overnight. Houses and apartments are not produced through miracles. This is the goal. The number of houses built in 1945 must in 1946 be five times greater. And in 1947, six and a half times greater. This is a job on which government, industry and labor will have to join in an all out effort. The heart of this program lies in the community. To answer this pledge to the veterans, an emergency committee is created. A gathering of friends and neighbors. Called for the mayor's emergency committee are a representative of veterans. It's their program. Remember? And a local housing authority director. Here are a real estate dealer, representative of home builders, and representative of home financing institutions. Representatives of the A of L and of minority groups. A delegate from the CIO. A newspaper editor. Women's organization to represent it too. Representative of material producers and dealers. A regional housing expediter. And the head of the local veterans housing referral center. Any reports of our committees? The war is not over. This is for Operation Hometown USA. To redeem its pledge to their veterans. What's emergency committees are at work in Worcester, Hetsburg, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, right across the nation in large cities and small? What has this committee already done for their veterans? The first report is that of our referral center. Our subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, has completed plans for the opening of a clearing house, for information on housing, for all returning men of the armed services. In the referral center, we find out all we can about every veteran's needs. Here we give him consultation and advice. Does the veteran wish to build or rent? For rental, he has shown our classified listings. We have classified the type of vacancy that we receive. However, if the applicant wishes to build, the veteran is told how application may be made for a priority to the state or district office of the FHA. And he is also told where he may find out about a loan under the GI Bill of Rights. Thank you very much, Mrs. Watkins. Let's have the report of our publicity committee. We of the publicity subcommittee have asked local radio stations to make appeals and interview veterans. Newspapers have given space to cut out coupons, cartoons, and feature articles. We have issued posters. Letters have been sent to all clergymen in town to request the property owners of their congregations to open their homes. Similar letters to service clubs, women's clubs, and all realtors. And finally, to all property owners. We've tried to make everyone aware that they must help in this emergency. And you're certainly doing a good job. The next step in the veterans housing program is a survey of the city's present housing situation. Our report on this comes from a man whose wide experience in housing and real estate well qualifies him as chairman of our subcommittee on planning. Si, let's have your report. We've made a complete survey of all unused housing space in our town. We've had our boy scouts comb all the burrows for extra space. Maybe upstairs over that garage there's an unused room. A spare room or attic that could be used temporarily. We've asked all our folks, people who are so situated, if they'd consider remodeling large houses into additional apartments, that helps. Now that's how we've tried to take the edge off the housing shortage in our town until construction can get underway and catch up with all this demand. And the demand is certainly great, isn't it, Tom? It really is. Our Tom and I have made a recount of substandard housing. Checked existing maps. We know just where we stand on that. There are a lot of veterans in those houses. They should be considered. Now here's one result of our survey. You'll recognize this as a map of our city. Here you'll find unused lots, some of them city-owned, taken over for back taxes. We've interviewed many of the owners of these vacant lots, tried to free them from cloudy titles. Now many of these improved lots will be available for building within our price range. We've also made a study of the use of land beyond the city limits. Land not serviced by city-paving facilities. Very good, Sai. Good work. Now about this construction that Sai says must get underway. It's pretty clear to us all that drastic steps must be taken. As local housing authority director, I want to report that we have established a veterans' preference for admission to our low-rent projects. The recount of substandard housing, based largely on our surveys, showed that there are many veterans' families living under slum conditions. Low-income veterans and their families are doubly handicapped in this emergency. We are trying to give them an even break. Thank you very much indeed. That's what we're all here for. Now, target number one, 1946. Target number two, 1947. Now how do we get there? What's our path? Well, to help us along our road, we have with us today a regional housing expediter, Mr. Walter King. We all agree that the Veterans' Emergency Housing Program is going to depend primarily on community action. But the federal government is going to do everything within its power to help, to channel materials into homes for veterans at the right prices, to utilize its resources to break bottlenecks on a national scale. All government agencies concerned with housing and materials which go into housing are cooperating with the National Housing Expediter, Wilson W. Wyatt. The Civilian Production Administration has a prime job of stimulating the greatest possible amount of production. The Office of Price Administration of keeping prices on materials in line. The Labor Department will turn its efforts in cooperation with Labor to augmenting the manpower supply. And the three major units of the National Housing Agency will each have vital roles. The Federal Housing Administration, or FHA as it is known to every builder and millions of homeowners, is handling the arduous task of issuing priorities and of insurance of mortgages. The Federal Public Housing Authority has the vital job of providing 200,000 temporary homes for veterans as speedily as possible. This will be done by the reuse of the war housing supply in Army and Navy barracks, as well as by aiding the long-range public housing program for those of low income operated through local housing authorities. And the Federal Home Loan Bank Administration will utilize its resources and those of its member institutions to aid in the financing of veterans' homes. As a town you would do well to set a goal to shoot at, as your chairman states. But first you must remember that the price factor of new houses is important. A War Department survey shows that 84% of the veterans throughout the nation can afford more than a $6,000 house. Can't pay more than $50 a month rent. And many of these families want to rent and are in no position to buy a house. How many houses will this town need to hit target one and target two? To answer that, certain basic facts are called for. Our referral center reports that the number of discharged veterans still seeking homes is 2,998. Selective service reports total number of men from this town in war service for the period of July 1, 1940 to June 1, 1946 is 6,451. The 1946 population of this town is 59,963. No correction on that. 965 twins arrived this morning at the city hospital. A survey part of which was made for us by our Boy Scouts reports that the total number of habitable vacant dwelling units in this community is only 67. They're going fast. Schedule A estimates future veteran requirements. Vacancies subtracted from requirements give an estimate of the number of houses needed 2,931. For 1946, 1,304. For 1947, 1,627. The total number for which this community must assume responsibility. That's too darn many. It can't be done. It's clear beyond this. Ladies and gentlemen, it's got to be done. How? Well, here are three ways of meeting our goal in addition to making available every possible vacant space in existing homes. First, by building in the usual conventional manner. The onsite construction which has provided the great volume of our homes and apartments in the past. Secondly, by prefabricated houses and houses of prefabricated parts constructed in the factory and assembled on the site. And thirdly, by temporary structures brought from other areas. But we don't want any temporary building. Where do we put them? Can we get the materials? Can we get labor? Ladies and gentlemen, but these houses take time. Our veterans need roofs right now and at a price that we can afford. These men can't wait. This is a crisis, friends, and it calls for action. We've got to find homes for veterans. We all know the cost. It's not beyond our powers or ability as a city. We've got to find apartments and houses by every possible means. Now I heard that in a certain Midwestern city, interested parties were brought together. Real estate men made available, I believe, a 1,000-acre plot. Bankers and savings and loan people arranged for the financing. And then, veterans who wished to build made application. The first contractor is building 400 low-to-moderate priced units as one job. I believe that this town can do the same if we pool our mutual interests. Of course, building contractors need stimulation. And I think that we should encourage the formation of new construction organizations. Now, what about materials? That is the biggest, most critical job facing us today. And that's one for you, Joe, that idle brickyard on Crescent Street. You can get that into operation again. Yes, I can. And we must do much more to break those bottlenecks. Sam? That sawmill of Jim Matthews is only one of several that can be made to increase its output of lumber. Oh, sure, sure. Take care of it. Now, what about labor? Labor can meet the demand. If materials are there, we can make the men available. We'll recruit all the men needed for the job and train them as speedily as possible. We can relax our apprenticeship requirements. If the building industry grows, labor will grow with it. Remember, labor has a great stake in the housing program, both as producer and consumer, and we're going to see it through. It's pretty clear, I think, that we can't construct all the dwellings we need in the usual conventional manner. To achieve our target, we've got to use prefabrication. Now, the big advantage of prefabs, of course, is the speed of construction. Units are assembled in the factory by production line methods. Houses can be shipped within a limited radius of the factory. The prefabricated houses that we want are not flimsy structures. They will be built to high standards, and I'm sure that they'll be a real asset to the community. Former service barracks and war housing are placed at the disposal of veterans. 200,000 of these units are being dismantled and moved through the Federal Public Housing Authority. To cities and colleges where the need is extreme for immediate shelter. Available and serviceable, but they do not meet our permanent needs. When the emergency is over, they will be removed. Well, this about concludes our meeting. We must remember that we're after rental housing, all we can get of it, because most veterans are in no position to buy homes. And even more important, we must eliminate non-essential construction and channel all materials to veterans' needs. This is really an emergency, friends. And I know that each and every one of you will cooperate. And now, let's have a discussion and a vote. But the important thing is early decision. Decision about land for the necessary construction. Land for all income groups. Questions about city paving and extension of facilities. If construction is really to get going, codes must be amended to still give protection, but not hold up production. Zoning must be reappraised. Yes, the important thing for every committee is to face their local problems and argue them out in the democratic process. Opinion stated. Problems faced. Solutions evaluated. But the important thing is the need for concerted action. All right. All those in favor? Hundreds of these committees in hundreds of towns are facing their housing emergency, facing their problems with full use of their resources. Over and above, they plan their future and the future of the nation. Building should grow to be the major United States industry. Better living conditions are ahead for us all. City planners and planning commissions, builders, labor, financing agencies, local housing authorities, civic groups, alert citizens everywhere are meeting the enlarged demands of the 20th century. Cities will plan their growth. Communities will provide more neighborhoods where men and women can live in comfort and dignity. There will be wider spaces. Community facilities for all. More air and sunlight. More living rooms. More houses. And a rich, full life for everyone. But in the meantime, right now, I've got to have a home. Let's do it. Let's give him a home.