Following World War II, after having served their country for the long, horrible years of the war, service personnel wanted only to re-establish their civilian lives and set up households with their families. The return of more than a million Canadians to peacetime life created a housing demand that the private sector could not meet. The federal government was challenged to meet the need for a rehabilitation program to assist ex-service members. Social housing in Canada has its origins in the demand for such a program.
Although the federal government did build housing for veterans of World War I, it was in 1935 that the foundation of a federal housing agency was laid, with the Dominion Housing Act. By 1938, the Act had helped finance almost 5,000 homes. During World War II, the Wartime Housing Corporation built 46,000 homes and renovated thousands more. After the war, the sudden huge demand for housing required further action on the government’s part. In 1946 the government created the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a federal agency that continues today.
Housing in the post-WWII years consisted largely of the family bungalow. They were spartan by today’s standards — small, more or less insulated, heated by hot-air furnaces and with few appliances or conveniences.
These little houses became homes for generations of Canadians. Every city in Canada has sections where victory homes still stand, their importance to a generation of service members perhaps unknown by their current inhabitants. They are visible reminders of a time long ago when the government acted to support the men and women who served the nation.
