Within an economic boom and with the benefi t of state support, the building guilds thrived for eighteen months. But the clouds of austerity loomed on the horizon. By July 1921, amid a rollout of monetary austerity, an economic downturn, and a mounting "economy campaign," the government decided to withdraw all state aid from local authorities, leaving them stripped of the ability to fi nance housing projects, even though less than onefi ft h of the houses urgently required had been built.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 445