HOUSING RETURNED MEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 199, 24 August 1942, Page 2

HOUSING RETURNED MEN

OTANDARD houses and furniture are planned for soldiers when they return from overseas or when they complete service in New Zealand, and competitions are proposed for designs. The idea has much to C u mi ri ei 2. "on score lowered costs through mass production, but the Rehabilitation Council has left some serious problems open for discussion. It is setting up twenty-two district councils. Will these councils have any voice in the decision of where the houses are to be built and In what order? There is already a great shortage of accommodation in the Dominion. The position will become infinitely more acute when the soldiers return. Will the allocation of homes for them be conducted on a properly-planned basis, or will it be done on numbers and geography? It Is possible that In some centres the inevitable changes which will result from lowered prices for primary production f j redistribution of population due to the cessation of war Industries will completely change the outlook. Are possibilities of this Kind being provided against? It is not enough to scatter houses, standard or otherwise, pepper-pot fashion, over the landscape. A thorough summary of peacetime potentialities in every district should be prepared and upon the broad prospects of the immediate peace needs of industry' both primary and secondary, an allocation of the available building resources should be made. It is certain that the demand cannot be wholly met, and therefore as one means of building up a peacetime economy as quickly as possible it is essential that those areas which will more readily assist in rehabilitation should be the first to receive systematic development. Has consideration been given to this aspect of the problem?