HOUSING PLAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 18

HOUSING PLAN.

MR. NASH INQUIRES. LIVERPOOL'S EXPERIENCE. ADVICE FOR NEW ZEALAND. (From Our T/Oiulon Correspondent.) LONDON, January 21. Information of value upon the finance, administration, architecture and construction of municipal housing schemes has been gained by the Minister of Finance and Minister of Marketing, Hon. Walter Nash, as a result of his visit to Liverpool last week. In tile past :iii years the Liverpool Corporation has erected more than 33,000 houses, flats and shops. In Liverpool slum clearance has been ;i problem since IStiO. Vj> until the war the corporation had erected a total of flats and houses for the clearance of slum areas, and since the war over 40(H) have been constructed for a similar purpose. In addition, it has erected nearly 20,00(1 flats and houses as part of a large scheme of municipal housing with low rentals. Twelve per cent of the city's population of 900,000 live in these buildings. Notwithstanding all this activity, the corporation has still a list of about 24,000 applicants for either flats or houses that it lias not yet been able to satisfy. Successful Scheme. Liverpool's housing scheme has probably been established the longest, and is one of the most successful in the world. The Housing Department of the corporation has shown that a permanent organisation, planning a programme of regulated expansion for the future, can achieve low cost housing, combined with high standards of comfort and full communal amenities. The director of the Housing Department is Mr. L. H. Keav. a well-known authority upon the (subject, whose services have been sought at various times by both the United States and Canada. The chief architect is Mr. L. C. Howitt.. With both Mr. Nash had long conferences. The estates upon which the flats and houses have been constructed are all situated in good parts of the city's suburbs, and the fact that the director lias a long-range'programine has enabled him to make his land purchases ahead of requirements. Most of the land in purchased by negotiation, and this has been a fairly successful method. The valuation of the district valuer is the limit inn factor in the possible exploitation of the public. There is always present the possibility of compulsory powers being used to acquire land, so sellers are generally found to be reasonable. Price Governing. Somewhat the same principle applies in the construction of the flats or houses. These are generally built by contract, but the contractors know that the Director of Housing is likely to put in a contract himself, and as the Hou~insr Department can build houses more i cheaply—it need make no profits—its j influence is to keep prices low. The services of the private contractor are needed because of the amount of work to be done. It is interesting to compare the influence of the Director of Housing on housing costs with that of New Zealand's State joinery factories. Their object is, too. to act as governors in supplying a good service at a reasonable price. Tn planning the Liverpool honsin<r estates, full attention is given to fresh air. sun. layout, communal facilities and to beautv. For example, the houses are arranged so that the morning =un reaches the front rooms, and the afternoon sun the rooms in the rear. As fatas possible, no Txiildinsr is allowed to ■-hut off the sun from another. While an effort is made to build as many houses as possible, in some parts flats are the only method of solving the housing nroblcm. Bv these means greater facilities can be provided for recreational purposes, while retaining the density of population. The houses are not of the bungalow type, owing to additional costs, but consist mostly of well-designed blocks of two. three, four or six houses. All the houses or flats have a larder, bath, hot water system, internal lavatory, electric light, power j pines, gas points and gas-heated wash boilers. Unity of Design. Tn the layout of the estates the street is made to feel a unity bv arrftnerinsr the design so that the buildinsrs at the end form natural and inevitable boundaries. Tn the buildings uniformity and beauty are gained without monotony. Care is taken to ensure that a Georgian style is not placed next to a modern design, and also that the street is not merely a succession of identical houses. When planning the estates thousands of houses are involved, so that in effect it becomes community planning. Shop- | ping centres are arranged, school, church sites, and recreation areas set aside, libraries, community halls and theatres built. The Liverpool Corporation, in letting the houses or shops—they are not sold—does not allow posters, placards, or hoardings, nor can sbop fronts be disfigured. Each shopkeeper must keen his name and trade to a uniform size and type when placed on the shop front. The buildings are not insured with a private insurance comnany. The Housing Depart ment carries its own insurance, and has built up strong reserves. Tt was on the Dovecot Estate that provision was first made for elderly people, particularly old-age pensioners Here 34 cottage flats were erected, each consisting of a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. The rents for these are as low as 5/3 a week. Low Rents. The money required for the purchase of land and building has been raised by the Liverpool Corporation at 3 per cent on the security of the city's rates, and housing costs have been kept down by the standardisation of certain materials and equipment. The result is low rents. For example, a house with three bedrooms varies from 8/4 to 12/10 a week, inclusive of rates. With a sitting room in addition the rent rises to 15/11 a week. Other rents are in proportion. In slum clearance projects the Government and the local authority give a yearly subsidy, which reduces the rents on those houses which replace the slums. The Housing Department pools the sums received and allocates them to individual categories of houses in accord with the economic needs of the tenants. The magnitude of the task that has faced Liverpool is thus obvious. The j fact that the city's experience in municipal housing has been placed before Mr. Nash will be of benefit to New Zealand in that it will enable errors made 'in other parts of the world to be avoided. 1