[Lowcountry]

"as far back as the 1940s, when the GI Bill encouraged mass construction of new homes in suburbs from Long Island to the San Fernando Valley."

It may be a small mistake, but the GI Bill did not "encourage" the construction to occur in the "suburbs." The suburbs were simply the result of what happens when new homes are built in urban areas. Some call it sprawl, but it is simply the growth of new development.

[Wallace T.]

I am not opposed to what the liberals call urban sprawl. As areas within city limits filled in, it was inevitable that adjacent communities would be subject to development. The GI Bill helped introduce mortgage lending at below market rates and low down payments, more liberal terms than had existed previously. It probably sped up the development of suburbs than would have otherwise been the case, but such growth would nonetheless have occurred. New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia had suburbs well before World War II, some even dating back to the late 1800s. These suburbs, like Garden City, NY, Evanston, IL, or Brookline, MA, were mostly upper middle class or better. Suburban growth has continued, even though the GIs who populated the post-World War II suburbs have either died or are in their 80s or more.