The newly elected Press Secretary of Local 103, George Capelle, reported in the October Journal of a great apartment and housing shortage in Boston. The Boston Building Trades Council (consisting of 28 unions in 1920) created a "Housing Council" to combat the problem. Each affiliate union contributes $10.00 for organizing purposes of the "Housing Council", all building trades members are entitled to buy in at $10.00 a share to the "Housing Council" with a limit of 10 shares to any member. "The first home is now under construction in Quincy and is estimated to cost about 50% less than the builders price." "As this Council is only in its infancy, great progress is expected, and as the program advances, they intend to inaugurate a co-operative bank to furnish mortgages to prospective home builders." This idea of a union bank for the exclusive use of union members was short lived. Union men would blame the Depression on the failure of the union bank scheme. Non-union employers and bankers claimed the unions put inexperienced union puppets in positions to extend unsecured loans to other union members, exavtly what big business employers were doing to their friends. At any rate, the panic of 1929 brought down all banks.

Since the Massachusetts licensing law for electricians passed in 1915, a bellwether for Local 103 was the number of permits issued for construction projects.

By October 1920, permits issued were forecasting bad times. Permits were mostly for remodeling houses and garages. The Federal Reserve Bank which was to be ten stories had been cut to five, and the John Hancock Life Insurance building is going up at six stories, was originally planned for nine stories.