By Doug Smith
In 1937 Ralph Webb, a Conservative member of the provincial legislature, told the legislature that when he had been mayor of Winnipeg, he had been able to convince Prime Minister R.B. Bennett to provide federal support for a low-cost housing program for the city. But, he lamented, Bennett had cancelled his commitment after receiving a “deluge of telegrams” opposing the plan. When James Litterick, the lone Communist member of the legislature, asked who had sent the telegrams, an embarrassed Webb tried to deflect the question, but eventually acknowledged that the opposition came from the “real estate bodies, the Board of Trade and other groups like that, who don’t have to live in these conditions.”[1] Having to make common cause with a Communist was not an easy thing for Webb to do: back in his days as mayor he had at various times proposed throwing Reds into the Red River or shipping them to Russia.[2]
Webb had not played a central role in the campaign to create public housing in 1933. But he was a maverick in his politics, forever at war with the Free Press and the more traditional elements of the Winnipeg establishment, and his comments shed some light on the role the business community played in killing an innovative public-housing proposal.
Housing conditions in Winnipeg during the 1930s were grim. The Great Depression had devastated Winnipeg’s housing industry: where in 1928, 838 houses and 20 apartment blocks had been built in the city, the figures for 1933 were 124 and three.[3] By 1933, unemployment had forced thousands of families into crowded unhealthy conditions in the north end and the city’s downtown. A February 19, 1934, civic administration report on housing stated that “there are far too many families crowded together in houses originally designed and constructed for one family, without any attempt being made to partition off rooms in a manner that would permit of individual family life.” Of the 352 houses inspected, 111 were occupied by single families. In one case, a 19-room house was occupied by 11 families and in another, a 15-room house was occupied by 11 families. Nine families were sleeping in basements and 111 in attics.[4] In the area bounded by Portage Avenue, Kennedy Street, Broadway, and Main Street, 3,728 people were living in 352 houses.[5]
The survey of housing needs was the first step toward the preparation of a proposal to the federal government for funding to build and repair local housing. In February 1934, Independent Labour Party alderman Morris Gray, in expectation of receiving federal funding, moved that the city seek provincial authority to borrow $1.5-million to build new housing and repair existing housing.[6] The time was propitious: in the municipal election of fall 1933, voters had elected nine members of the conservative Citizens’ Election Committee, seven members of the Independent Labour Party, one self-proclaimed Labour member, and one communist. For the first time in the city’s history, the left had as many seats on council as the right. And from the very council’s very first meeting, they fought each other tooth and nail.[7]
Gray’s resolution stimulated a local architectural firm, Green Blankstein Russell Ham, to develop and present a detailed low-cost housing proposal to the council’s housing committee. The plan was ambitious: it was to cover 16 ¾ acres a mile-and-a-half from the city’s downtown. The area was bounded on the west by McPhillips Street, in the east by Arlington Street, the north by McDermott Avenue, and the south by Winnipeg Avenue. The project would include 588 housing units in a series of duplexes and two- and three-storey buildings. It was designed for households with incomes of between $80 and $150 a month. This, in the opinion of the architects, was “an income group never provided for properly by private enterprise, and who could not possibly build or support individual houses on individual lots.” Rents, including heat and water, were expected to be about 25 of the tenants’ incomes. At this level of rent, the project would pay for itself over a period of 35 years.
The layout included playgrounds, vegetable gardens, a pedestrian mall, and a shopping area along with office space for doctors and other professionals and a day nursery that they proposed be operated as a free service. No buildings were to be more than three stories in height. The estimated total cost was $1.75-million, which included the cost of the land, 90 per cent of which was city-owned.[8]
The architects recognized that “there would be a great deal of opposition to the scheme from the real-estate and speculative building interests.”[9] It appears that they both campaigned for the project and sought out allies. The Building Trades Council, which represented unionized construction workers, took a public position in favour of the development, pointing out that it would create six months of fulltime employment for 2,500 workers.[10] In April 1934, the Manitoba Association of Architects, the Building Trades Council, and the Trades and Labor Council briefed Premier John Bracken on the proposal prior to his meeting with R.B. Bennett to discuss public-works measures.[11] Public meetings in support of the proposal were also held around the city.[12]
The proposal met with hostility from both city administrators and some of the more conservative members of council. They argued that the costs had not been properly estimated, that the site was too far from downtown, and that payback period was too long.[13] Alderman Cecil Rice-Jones opposed the housing plan, saying it would merely transfer people from old houses to new ones, leaving the city with more vacant houses.[14] The fact that houses would be of better quality hardly seemed to register.
In May 1934, Mayor Webb and Alderman Cecil H. Gunn went to Ottawa to plead Winnipeg’s case for public works spending with Prime Minister R.B. Bennett. The two items at the top of their list were a sewage disposal system and public housing.[15] In a telephone call from Ottawa, Webb informed the architects that the plan had been included in the federal public works plans.[16]
When by late June there had been no word on the plan and the mayor had not returned to the city, J.B. Graham, the president of the Building Trades Council, telegraphed Bennett asking for an update on the proposal. Bennett’s telegraphed response was terse: “Lack of support from Winnipeg made it impossible to proceed with project.” Graham said that as soon as the proposal had been announced “75 messages were at once dispatched to Ottawa against the scheme. They came from real estate interests and other selfish sources.” Graham criticized council and city staff for not embracing the proposal.[17] When Webb finally returned to the city in late June, he maintained the housing project and the sewage project could be salvaged.[18]
“The tall buildings of Winnipeg, the Tyndall stone banks, the marble stores and picture houses, are merely a screen around a cesspit. Take them away from one or two of our best streets, and you reveal an appalling sight, which has been accumulating horror at compound interest for many years.” — The Winnipeg Building Trades Council
He was, however whistling past the graveyard. In July, in response to another query from the building trades council, Prime Minister Bennett reiterated his position; due to lack of Winnipeg support, the plan was not going to be funded.[19] In lamenting the failure, the Building Trades Council issued a public statement reminding readers that “The tall buildings of Winnipeg, the Tyndall stone banks, the marble stores, and picture houses, are merely a screen around a cesspit. Take them away from one or two of our best streets, and you reveal an appalling sight, which has been accumulating horror at compound interest for many years.”[20] Webb, who retired from municipal politics that year, concurred, “In Winnipeg, the housing situation will cost millions of dollars to taxpayers in the future. It is a disgrace that a city 50 years old should have such a situation, and it is one the city won’t face. We are pushing people into places unfit to live in, and the one-half fit are overcrowded.”[21]
Works consulted
Epp, Stefan. “Class, Capitalism, and Construction: Winnipeg’s Housing Crisis and the Debate over Public Housing, 1934-1939.” Histoire sociale/Social history, 43, no. 86 (2010): 393-428
McKillop, Brian. “Citizen and Socialist: The Ethos of Political Winnipeg, 1919–1935.” MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1970.
Thompson, John H. “The Political Career of Ralph H. Webb,” Red River Valley Historian, Summer 1976, 1–7.
“Proposed Low-Cost Housing Development For The City of Winnipeg” The Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Volume XI, Numbers 7 and 8, 109–112.
References
[1] “Webb Urges Province to Force Action In Problem of Housing,” Winnipeg Tribune 19 March 1937.
[2] John H. Thompson, “The Political Career of Ralph H. Webb,” Red River Valley Historian, Summer 1976, 1–7.
[3] “Overcrowding in Houses Continues, Officer Reports,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 February 1934.
[4] “Authority to Be Sought to Borrow $1,500,000 For Building of Homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 February 1934.
[5] “Authority to Be Sought to Borrow $1,500,000 For Building of Homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 February 1934.
[6] “Authority to Be Sought to Borrow $1,500,000 For Building of Homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 February 1934.
[7] Brian McKillop, “Citizen and Socialist: The Ethos of Political Winnipeg, 1919–1935,” MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1970, 143; “Webb Uses His Vote to Prevent Change in Chairmanships, Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1934.
[8] “New Housing Plan For City Placed Before Committee,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 March 1934; “Architects Say Housing Plan Attack Unfair,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 May 1934; “Architects Reply to Criticism of Housing Scheme,” Winnipeg Free Press, 7 May 1934; “Proposed Low-Cost Housing Development For The City of Winnipeg” The Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Volume XI, Numbers 7 and 8, 109–112.
[9] “Proposed Low-Cost Housing Development For The City of Winnipeg” The Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Volume XI, Numbers 7 and 8, 112.
[10] “Building Notes,” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 April 1934.
[11] “Relief Housing Plan Outlined,” Winnipeg Tribune, 18 April 1934.
[12] “Mass Meeting” (Advertisement), Winnipeg Free Press, 21 April 1934.
[13] “Architects Say Housing Plan Attack Unfair,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 May 1934; “Architects Reply to Criticism of Housing Scheme,” Winnipeg Free Press, 7 May 1934.
[14] “Taxpayers of North End Hear Ald. Rice-Jones,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 June 1934.
[15] “Mayor and Gunn To Go To Ottawa On Relief Plans,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 May 1934.
[16] “Builders’ Union Urges Low-Cost Housing Plan,” Winnipeg Tribune, 25 August 1934.
[17] “Apathy Killed Housing Plan, Says Bennett,” Winnipeg Tribune, 21 June 1934; “Council Blamed For Shelving Of Garden City Plan,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 June 1934.
[18] “Mayor Is Back After Lengthy Ottawa Siege, Winnipeg Tribune, 23 June 1934; “Webb Declares Homebuilding and Sewage Appealed,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 June 1934.
[19] “Builders’ Union Urges Low-Cost Housing Plan,” Winnipeg Tribune, 25 August 1934.
[20] “More Houses For City Needed, Says Builders’ Letters,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 August 1934.
[21] “Mayor Webb Vigorously Attacks City Newspapers; Says He Was Misquoted,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 December 1934.