HOUSING

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25274, 28 August 1947, Page 5

HOUSING

Sir,—l notice that a house next to the Municipal Electricity Department in Armagh street has been demolished, and I understand that this property had been purchased by the City Council. In these days of desperate housing shortages many persons will consider such destruction to be little short of criminal, when so many are living under slum conditions. If what I have been told as to ownership is correct, then the present council has persons on it who have scant regard for the welfare of others, and in particular the ratepayers. I am convinced it is past time the present council was the subject of an inquiry on its antiprogressive activities. As a returned serviceman who has been hunting for a home for a very long time, I can see the Returned Services’ Association must take a more active part in local affairs.—Yours, etc..

a x « HOMELESS. August 14, 1947. [The Mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews) said the house had been the property of the Municipal Electricity Department for many years and had been purchased with the idea of providing a yard for materials. It had not been occupied as a residence for many years, and the Salvation Army had used it as a depot. “While I personally deplore the elimination of anything in the shape of residences, I think I can say that the present council is most intensely concerned about the provision and retention of houses,” added Mr Andrews. “As for being unprogressive, the council has done more in the housing line probably than anv council. It has built 50 houses *at Sandilands, has provided transit housing for 128 families at Harewood, and is joining with the Government in providing accommodation for pensioners at Burnham. Former councils made advances on easy terms for some 150 houses and provided about 80 flats for aged pensioners.”]