Home builders long have complained that the Federal Housing Administration's 23 volumes of outmoded and confusing minimum standards have kept them from giving house buyers more quality. Last week, following three years of talking with housewives, manufacturers and engineers, FHA Commissioner Norman Mason came out with his answer: a one-volume rule book that for the first time in FHA's 24-year history pulls together, updates and clarifies the regulations on which FHA grants mortgage insurance for one-and two-family houses.
As expected (TIME, Sept. 22), the new rules will encourage better housing even...