Eden Camp:
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Eden Camp:
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HUT 33 - PREFABHOUSING SHORTAGES
By the end of the war, over four million new homes were needed in Britain. A vast number had been destroyed during the war, but fewer than 200,000 had been built between 1939 and 1945. In addition to those destroyed by bombs, houses were required for the two million couples who had married during the war. Emergency measures were therefore needed.
PREFABS
Prefabs provided an important immediate solution to the housing shortage at the end of the war, because of the speed and ease at which they could be built. By January 1948, almost 160,000 had been built and allocated at a cost of almost £216 million. Each unit had an average cost of £1300. Although built only as an emergency measure, many prefabs were still being lived in over 40 years after they were first constructed.
DIG FOR VICTORY
War made the importing of food a hazardous and costly business, and yet the nation depended on imports for its survival. But as U-boats in the Atlantic sank an increasing number of Merchant ships it became obvious that self-help on the home front was vital. An appeal was made to farmers on 5th September 1939, followed by a month later by a broadcast by the Minister of Agriculture, Sir Reginald Dorman Smith: "Half a million more allotments properly worked will provide potatoes and vegetables that will feed another million adults and one and a half million children for eight months out of twelve... So, let's get going. Let "Dig For Victory" be the motto of everyone with a garden and of every able bodied man and woman".
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