HOLLAND NEEDS HOUSES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 79, 13 January 1949, Page 2

HOLLAND NEEDS HOUSES

About 70,000 a Year for Decade (From George Franks—Reuter’s Correspondent). (By Air Mail) THE HAGUE. Holland needs at least 70,000 new houses a year for the next ten years to eliminate the present shortage caused by the destruction, of 92,000 houses during the war and to keep pace with her increasing population. Of the 70,000 new houses required, some 40,000 a year are needed to keep pace with the estimated annual increase of 160,000 in the population. The rest are regarded as replacements for war damaged dwellings and ordinary wear, and tear. The present rate of new building in Holland, however, is still far below this target figure. The total number of houses built since the war ended is only about 60,000 — 20,000 of which have been completed during 1948. With the monthly average, at present 2000, steadily increasing, the Government expects to double the 1948 total by 1951. The 1949 programme provides for the construction of 38,000 new houses at.' a cost of £40,000,000 sterling. Considerable help is already being obtained under the Marshall Plan, while the recent agreement with the bizonal authorities in Germany for 400,000 tons of cement and trade agreements with Russia, Finland and Germany for the supply of timber, are expected to ease some of the shortages of materials which are slowing up reconstruction.

The .Dutch Government has recently decided that the bulk of the money needed to finance the building of new dwellings must comb from the local municipal authorities instead of being subsidised by the Government. It is, however, providing about £17,000,000 for new houses in 1949, together with £2,500,000 for imports of building material. While every encouragement is to be given to both builders and investors to push ahead with building the Government has made it clear the main initiative must in future rest with private enterprise. The local municipal authorities will have to give their sanction to all private enterprise schemes so that there is no waste of money or effort. Prefabricated Houses

The construction of prefabricated houses is to be greatly intensified during 1C49. It is hoped to build at least 10,000 during the year. So far work on pre-fabs has been mainly experimental, but some 30 different types have now been approved by the .Building Institute and the Government is urging private enterprise to pay more attention to bouses specially built to accommodate two families. The Minister for Reconstruction has suggested, for example, that of the 60,000 houses planned for 1952, about 25,000 should be of this duplex type which would mean that the equivalent of 80,000 houses would be erected for practically, the same expenditure of material and labour. Particular interest is being taken in a new type of concrete pre-fab which takes only one week to erect. If builders start building the foundations on Monday, the new occupants can enter their home on Saturday.

The experimental homes built in this way have proved remarkably popular, and a, very large industry for building them lias arisen near Zwolle. Contracts for them have been signed with many private investors in Holland, as welL as with firms operating in North Africa, Italy, Belgium and West Germany. Every effort is being made in the Government’s building programme to keep building costs as low as possible. The Minister for Reconstruction has, however, announced that rents will probably have to be increased as it is impossible to keep them at the 1939 level. But he has promised that the ordinary worker will not suffer either from reduced building costs or from increased rent.