Builders Urge More Use Of State-Aided Homes Plan

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28013, 6 July 1956, Page 12

Builders Urge More Use Of State-Aided Homes Plan

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 5. More low-cost homes for elderly people may result from slackness in the building industry in some parts ol New Zealand if an idea being put forward by the New Zealand Master Builders’ Federation is carried into ! effect. j A statement issued by the federa- | lion states that it is advising all its : 23 district master builders associations j to discuss with their local authorities i the Government-aided scheme for the ! building of flats and houses for age j beneficiaries and others similarly i situated. I Under this scheme, the State pays j half the cost of the building up to ! £7OO for a one-person unit or £B5O I for a two-person unit and makes the rest of the finance available to the local authorities concerned. At the end of the repayment period oi the loan, the buildings become the property of the local authority. ’’lt is surprising to us.” said Mr W M. Sommerville, director of the federation. “to learn that since the Government began this scheme five years ago only a few local authorities ha’ z e taken advantage of it. I “We are informed that until last year, only five applications had been received, but the total rose to 20 I last year, and more are now under ' action'. : “It seems to us that if more public interest were taken in this simple i method of housing the old people in ; our community, local authorities would be more active in that direction and I more homes would be provided for | the 65-year-olds and over who com-

prise nine per cent, of our popula tion,” he said.

Surveys taken in Wanganui, New Plymouth, and Rotorua, said Mr Sommerville, showed that the need for housing for the older people was greater than had been realised. The same situation might well apply in other parts