THE HOUSING PROBLEM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 95, 1 December 1939, Page 4

THE HOUSING PROBLEM

Fifty completed Government houses already erected in Whakatane; plans for a similar number, and approximately ten new units already under construction.. For a town of 2,000 inhabitants these figures are arresting in themselves, and speak well for the Governments!' effort to cope with the appalling shortage in Whakatane. The amazing feature is that in spite of the increased accomodation already completed, in spite of the growing number of new houses being built by private persons, the position remains almost as acute as ever. At the present time with four new houses awaiting tenants under the state scheme, the town enjoys the spectacle of no less tha,n 64 applicants, who comprise the waiting list. Either the town is attracting new citizens at a rate which cannot possibly be met or else its own development and expansion has outgrown most of the residences hitherto at the disposal of its citizens. There is probably an essence of truth in both. In either case the question occurs, where would Whakatane have been, under the circumstances, had the Government scheme never been introduced.