Detroit has always been a city of single-family homes. Even during the boom years during and following World War II, when thousands of single men streamed to the city, the city did not build up an infrastructure of public or rental housing.

In the 1930s, mortgage payments could account for up to 25% of an autoworker's paycheck. Many homeowners were forced to take in boarders. In Detroit's Mexican community, Casas de asistencia sprung up as up to six tenants lived in single-family housing.

Houses built before and around World War II were small, generally wedged into 40-foot lots. The GI Bill funded the construction of single-family homes and led to continued sprawl.

This lack of housing lead to conflicts, especially as races mixed. Defended neighborhoods and housing organizations formed to fight plans for public housing in the city.

Sources

Proletarians of the North: A History of Mexican Industrial Workers in Detroit and the Midwest, 1917-1933, Zaragosa Vargas, University of California Press, 1999