Tacoma Is Building—and Mostly for People Who Plan to Stay
Building permits jumped 68 percent over 1903, with new homes rising for owners rather than investors.
During the past week the building inspector issued 37 permits, representing $42,735 worth of improvements, including new buildings and repairs to old ones. Although this is not an excessive showing, yet it goes to show that the City of Destiny is moving toward a Greater Tacoma. A large number of the permits issued this week were for new dwellings, and some of them will be very elaborate. The most expensive one will be erected by Anton Huth on North Third and E streets, to cost $12,000. Figures just completed giving the building operations of the first six months of the year 1903 and for the same period in 1904 show an increase for this year of 68 per cent over 1903. During the first six months of 1903 there were 117 permits issued, representing $146,630 worth of improvements, while in 1904 there were 144 permits issued and $246,296 worth of building done. But very few of the residences now going up are being built for investment. With few exceptions they are being erected by people who want homes of their own.
“With few exceptions they are being erected by people who want homes of their own.”
A century before Tacoma's current housing shortage, the city measured its health in building permits and worried about whether new homes were for owners or speculators. The 1904 story's 68 percent jump sounds like a boom, but the detail that mattered was who could actually afford to live in the new houses.
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