““In “Detroit Is Dynamite,” an August 1942 Life magazine article, Louis Martin and Ted Poston reported that 98.7 percent of all dwelling units in Detroit had been occupied as of April, a figure well past the 85 percent “danger mark.” 29 Making matters worse, many of these residences were of poor quality. In 1938 over 58,000 dwellings were categorized as substandard, and two years later this number was nearly 70,000.30 “Detroit’s incredible housing mess,” Martin and Poston warned, was the city’s “sorest problem.” 31””
