Houses for All
The Struggle for Social Housing in Vancouver, 1919-1950
Fascinating and informative, Houses for All analyzes the
housing problem that developed in Vancouver in the first half of this
century -- and repairs the curious rupture in the collective historical
memory that has left Vancouverites of the 1990s unaware of previous
housing crises and past activism and achievements.
Description
Houses for All is the story of the struggle for social housing
in Vancouver between 1919 and 1950. It argues that, however temporary
or limited their achievements, local activists pplayed a significant
role in the introduction, implementation, or continuation of many early
national housing programs. Ottawa's housing initiatives were not
always unilateral actions in the development of the welfare state. The
drive for social housing in Vancouver complemented the tradition of
housing activism that already existed in the United Kingdom and, to a
lesser degree, in the United States.
Reviews
Wade’s account is a valuable contribution to the largely unknown history of Vancouver’s early social housing movement and -- in no small measure -- a valuable contribution to Canada’s housing history. It is to be hoped that Wade will write a sequel.
- Alan F.J. Artibase
A text which is readable and urbane yet packed as tightly with information as people were in the 1940s Vancouver housing stock.
- Rhodri Windwor Liscombe
I would recommend this strongly to anyone who is interested in the history of housing, and to a lesser extent municipal politics, in Canada.
- Richard Harris