Women's Congress on Housing Will Tell Notion's lumber Deolers Whst They Wont in Wcry of Homes

The National Retail Lumber Dealers Association recently was host at a luncheon for the more than 100 housewives from all parts of the ,country who attended the Women's Housing Congress held in Washington by the Housing and Ifome Finance Agency. R. A. Schaub, NRLDA's president, presented a score of prominent Washingtonians, including members of Congress, Administration officials and other special guests, to the assembled women. Mr. Schaub praised the housewives for their earnest and intelligent study of today's housing requirements and assured them that the nation's lumber dealers would help them obtain what they want in the new homes they buy.

The guest list included HHFA Administrator Albert M. Cole, FHA Commissioner Norman P. Mason, Miss Annabelle Heath, assistant HHFA administrator, and Assistant FHA Commissioner C. B. Sweet.

If the housewives attending the Women's Congress on Housing will agree on what they rvant in the ideal family home, the nation's lumber dealers will build such a home for women everywhere to see, Raymond A. Schaub, NRDLA president, said in a telegram to Albert M. Cole. He said the ideal home would be built in Chicago this fall as a feature of the associations annual Building Products Exposition.

"The women of America have remained quiet too long regarding their housing preferences," Mr. Schaub said.

"They have been content tq let the so-called housing experts, mostly men, tell them what they want. It is most gratifying that the wo,men of this country at last have been invited to speak up regarding their likes and dislikes.

"If houservives want more space for the same money in their new homes, the building industry can and will provide that space for them. It costs relatively little to add a few feet to the length and breadth of a home. The extra cost can be offset by cutting down on some of the frills which are being jammed into today's new homes, in the perhaps mistaken belief that housewives would rather have extra gadgets at the expense of room sizes and family privacy. The gadgets always can be added later, if the family really wants them.

"The retail lumber dealers who build or help to build a substantial portion of the country's new homes, especially in smaller comrnunities, are continuously trying to find out what women really want in their new homes. If this Housing conference develops this longsought information, it will have performed a most valuable purpose."

Ideas expressed and developed at the recent \Vomen's Congress on Housing will help both government and industry in their future housing plans and programs, Annabelle Heath told a May 16 luncheon meeting of the directors of the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association, following the congress.

"The proposals made during the Women's Congress, which are now being analyzed preparatory to a definitive report, will be of enormous value to the government in carrving out its important role in housing," Miss Heath said.

"The greatest impact of the ideas expressed should be on industry itself rather than on government," she added. "The material produced by the \Momen's Congress rvill be assembled into a workable volume for the use of industry.

"The ideas expressed by the women delegates to the congress are your customers' ideas of what they want in houses. Retail lumber dealers alert to serving the needs of their customers will surely make effective use of this ready reference. In this you will have the help of the government."

Despite the fact that the delegates were from all parts of the country, where differences in design and structure are dictated by differences in climate, they were of one mind as to the basic functions of a house and the manner in which a home best serves the life o{ a family, Miss Heath said.

"The women were emphatic," she said, "that the physical structure of the house should serve to draw the family together emotionally and spiritually. They felt that the layout of a house should serve both to promote joint family activity and at the same time protect the right of privacy of the individual members of the family. And they regarded privacy as a right of children as well as husbands and wives,"