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Show CONSTRUCTION' PROBLEM GAINS GREATER ATTENTION. The federal government has started a nation-wide farm housing survey to ascertain the potential demand for improved im-proved home facilities, the cost of providing them, the development of standard specifications adapted to the needs of various areas, and practical plans for financing improvements and new building. It is generally known that there is a tremendous unfulfilled demand for new housing, in city as well as in rural areas, due to the lack of building build-ing for five or six years, and to the high rate of depreciation of existing structures. One of the great stumbling blocks to building now is that banks are unable un-able to loan funds because of inelastic laws, and the interest rates charged by other agencies are often so high as to discourage' the prospective builder. build-er. Both private and public agencies are now working on the financing problem to develop some plan whereby where-by money can be made available for construction at reasonable interest rates, and still earn a fair profit. There is also hope that there will be sufficient change in the banking situation situ-ation to permit a little more leeway in making building loans on the basis of an applicant's general character and reputation, instead of on his liquid assets only. If a major building wave can be started, on the farms and in cities, one of the biggest steps toward recovery re-covery and stability will have been ' taken. In the meantime, those who can build or repair now will be benefiting fhemselves and the nation by starting i onstruction dollars rolling, for let us hope that never again can we buy or build as cheaply as today. |