Housing
Further information: Urban planning in communist countries and Systematization (Romania)A housing shortage existed throughout the Eastern Bloc, especially after a severe cutback in state resources available for housing starting in 1975. Cities became filled with large system-built apartment blocks Western visitors from places like West Germany expressed surprise at the perceived shoddiness of new, box-like concrete structures across the border in East Germany, along with a relative greyness of the physical environment and the often joyless appearance of people on the street or in stores. Housing construction policy suffered from considerable organizational problems. Moreover, completed houses possessed noticeably poor quality finishes.
Read more about this topic: Eastern Bloc Economies
Famous quotes containing the word housing:
“We have been weakened in our resistance to the professional anti-Communists because we know in our hearts that our so-called democracy has excluded millions of citizens from a normal life and the normal American privileges of health, housing and education.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)