those in desperate need of accommodation. Post World War II The years following the end of the war led to even greater demands for public housing in Canberra. Facing building supply shortages and ever-increasing demand for accommodation, alternate methods of housing construction were investigated. The ACT Advisory Council recommended that "temporary housing in the form of rebuilt Army huts be provided for at least 100 families, subject to it being assumed as a government responsibility that these huts be replaced by housing of adequate standard at a later stage.". Hostels were erected near modern-day Commonwealth Park, Reid, Kingston and Barton. The hostels were built using ex-military buildings moved from Narellan near Sydney and Mulwala in the Riverina. In 1947 disused sleeping huts from Tocumwal air base were transported to Canberra and refitted as family homes. The huts had been built originally to resemble houses rather than barracks to avoid aerial detection and bombing. They are of weatherboard and fibro construction and have wide verandahs. 100 of the "Tocumwals" were erected in O'Connor around a central park. Some Tocumwals were also located in Ainslie. Many are still standing to this day. Unusually, the houses were erected without concrete foundations in order to save time and money; the brick footings sat on a double row of bricks laid directly onto the ground in a shallow trench. In 1946 the government began experimenting with concrete construction, with a test concrete wall being added to a house in Turner. An initial contract of 100 monocrete prefabricated houses was tendered in 1946 for construction in Turner and O'Connor. A further group of 45 houses was scheduled for Yarralumla in 1948. Monocrete houses were also constructed in many other Canberra suburbs. Other forms of prefabricated housing were tested during this time. The Beaufort aircraft factory built a prefabricated steel house in Ainslie. In 1948, a timber prefabricated house was imported from Finland and erected in Canberra. Riley-Newsum prefabricated houses were constructed at Duntroon, Ainslie, O’Connor and Deakin in the early 1950s. Families arriving in Canberra soon after the war were often accommodated in hostels such as Reid House or the Acton Hotel, sometimes initially they were offered a room in the house of a colleague. Some families were split between hostels, and the government encouraged families to send their children away to boarding school. The government also reversed its earlier policy and started building flats in