An acute housing crisis in Yorkton began as early as 1942, lasting until after the war into the late 1940s. The Dominion Government agency, the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation created in 1946, greatly helped meet the housing needs of returned veterans of the Second World War, building houses across the country. Yorkton has rows of these houses scattered about such as on Gladstone Avenue, Roslyn Avenue, Peaker Avenue, King Street, Second Avenue South, Sixth Avenue North, etc. The houses in the photo were one and a half story, measuring 25 x 24 feet, with no basement. The builder was Bird Construction Company of Regina, and the cost was estimated at $4,000.00 each. The title to the houses would have read: “His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, herein represented by Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation.” The houses were rented out for a while and then sold, with veterans given priority. This History Corner was originally published in the Jan. 27, 2010 issue of Yorkton This Week.
Terri Lefebvre-Prince
