Pembroke Village was planned to have 202 houses or apartments, and a community building/office. At about this time, the US entered into World War II. The war meant there was very little building in the US. But Bethlehem Steel's factory was more or less turned over completely toward providing goods for the war effort. Thousands of workers were brought into Bethlehem to help the plant work for 24 hours a day. This meant a lot of houses were needed in the city. The government and the housing authority got extra land and built three communities as "temporary war housing". 700 homes for these workers were built at Parkridge, South Terrace and Clearfield. Pembroke Village was hurried to completion and its 202 units were set aside as "permanent war housing", meaning that at the end of the war, Pembroke would revert to low-income housing, while the others would be demolished.