The purpose of this chapter is to provide some understanding of the workings of the population factors which have a bearing upon housing. Since terminology peculiar to the housing field has evolved over a period of years it is necessary in this chapter to clarify the meaning of a number of terms which are commonly used and frequently misinterpreted. Terms may be used herein in a specific sense different in meaning from their general usage. It must be borne in mind also that modification of meanings may continue as refinements of definitions occur.

Table 74.-Number of families and population, nonfarm and farm, 1890-1945

Housing Need Distinguished From Demand

It is of primary importance to distinguish between housing need and housing demand and to recognize their relation to population factors. Housing need is a social concept which takes into account (1) the availability of a separate dwelling unit for every family that wants one, (2) standards of adequacy of dwelling units, such as plumbing facilities, condition, lay-out, design and general adaptability to the requirements of their occupants, and (3) neighborhood factors affecting suitability for residential use. Estimates of housing need represent the amount of housing necessary to lift the housing standards of a community or the Nation to some predetermined

Table 75.-Family trends in the United States, by selected years

[In millions]

1 Data for 1945 are based on the sample survey conducted by the Census Bureau in November 1945 in connection with the Monthly Report on the Labor Force.

Total population obtained by interpolation of civilian population data as of November 1 and December 1, 1945. The farm-nonfarm break-down estimated by NHA on the basis of Census-Bureau of Agricultural Economics data for October 1945 and January 1946.

In this table, except for 1945, the urban farm population and dwelling units are included in the "farm" rather than the "nonfarm" classification. In 1945, urban farm dwelling units are included in the "nonfarm" classification. Population figures are not available according to nonfarm and farm classifications prior to 1910. The first year in which the Bureau of the Census enumerated the farm population separately was 1920. However, Dr. Leon E. Truesdell of the Bureau of the Census in "Farm Population of the United States" (1926) estimated that the farm population in 1910 was 32,076,960. Source: Bureau of the Census.

748221-48-7

1955

1 Roughly equivalent to number of private households or occupied dwelling units.

Census families plus additional married couples living as subfamilies in private households or in quasihouseholds. For years 1940 to 1945 social families include families of members of the armed forces, even though the husbands were absent from home.

Source: P. M. Hauser and A. J. Jaffe, "The Extent of the Housing Short age," in Duke University "Law and Contemporary Problems" winter 1947, Vol. XII, No. 1, p. 6. Estimates of census families based on data prepared by Bureau of the Census; estimates of social families derived from data of Public Health Service and Bureau of the Census.

87

Housing demand, on the other hand, is an economic concept reflecting the desire for housing combined with the purchasing power necessary to make it effective in terms of current market conditions. Estimates of housing demand represent the amount of housing which builders and owners of existing structures can reasonably expect to dispose of within a given period of time taking into consideration the general business outlook and the competitive position of housing in relationship to other goods and services. Determination of housing demand depends on interpretations and forecasts of movements in the economy as a whole, employment and income levels, the competitive position of housing vis-a-vis other durable goods, as well as on the demographic forces underlying housing need such as new family formation, migration, and the undoubling of families.1

Proper treatment of the economic factors involved in demand requires a more extensive analysis than is possible in a handbook of this type. However, a brief examination of some of the population factors of importance in housing follows in this chapter. While the treatment will be in terms of national needs, similar factors influence regional and local needs.

1 The statistical data in this chapter have been drawn from several sources, namely, the Bureau of the Census, the U. S. Public Health Service and from an article by P. M. Hauser and A. J. Jaffe, The Extent of the Housing Shortage, in Law and Contemporary Problems, winter issue, 1947, vol. XII, No. 1, School of Law, Duke University.

Age

3

health developments usually require that dwelling units in heavily populated areas at least have private baths and flush toilets. The condition of dwelling units in terms of need for repairs is perhaps the most widely accepted factor employed in deciding whether they are up to standard, but other criteria such as sufficient light, air, privacy, freedom from noise, dirt, and obnoxious odors, may be considered. In urban areas, special studies such as those conducted under the guidance of the Committee on the Hygiene of Housing, American Public Health Association, have shown that the need of major repairs or lack of private baths and flush toilets are very generally associated with other grave housing and neighborhood defects not specifically enumerated by the Bureau of the Census. The number of urban dwelling units with these state of repair and plumbing characteristics offers a basis for approximating the quantity of urban substandard housing in need of replacement or rehabilitation. Differences in the standards used in weighing the factors mentioned above, however, make for variations in estimates of replacement needs.

Needs Arising From Family Formation

Less divergence appears in the estimates of the needs arising from family formation. The number of families or social groups is more expressive of pressure on the housing supply than is population as such. Although the composition of families determines the need for units of various sizes and types, the total number of units required is set by the number of families unless there are sharp, rapid changes in family composition which render obsolete a considerable segment of the existing supply.

For information on family formation the principal source is the Bureau of the Census, all of whose statistics on the subject are actually in terms of households, although the Bureau of the Census refers to them frequently as families.

A household is defined by the Bureau of the Census as a group of persons living together with common housekeeping arrangements, in the same quarters. Within the household, however, a distinction is made between the private family, i. e., members of the household related to the head, and other members of the household such as lodgers and servants. Hence, the number of pri

A. A. Twitchell, A New Method for Measuring the Quality of Urban Housing, American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 33, No. 6, June 1943; see also An Appraisal Method for Measuring the Quality of Housing, Part 1, American Public Health Association, Committee on the Hygiene of Housing, New York, 1945.