greftwell
The 'GI' housing standards began with the 'VA loan' shortly after the government noticed 'junk shacks' standing as collateral in the post-war real estate boom. Take a look at "Mr. Blandings Dream House" which BTW is an excellent tutorial for change orders.
The same standard was applied to FHA loans, too.
It was these standards that kept carpeting out of tract homes until 1964, hence hardwood everywhere. Such standards included what size space constituted a bedroom, etc.
We now accept these norms as part of the building code to be universally applied, but they all came from this legislation.
IIRC the FHA loan standard still is the basis for all residential finance. It has been absorbed by all other consequent entities such as FNMA ( Fannie Mae } which handles a staggering percentage of wholesale residential finance.
( Almost all local real estate lenders kick their loans up to FNMA (sell them) in hefty bundles and retain an on-going loan service fee. Properties that don't meet the standard are not acceptable collateral to FNMA. The lender cannot resell the 'paper' (the loan) and that pretty much kills the deal.)
In its early years these standards were almost always tougher than local building codes -- if they even existed. That's why no matter how great the building boom no one cranks out the hole-in-the-wall shacks that were so common in the 1920's Florida and New York booms.
You'll still see closets pitched as bedrooms in Hawaiian rentals, though.
