Housing Programme

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28607, 9 June 1958, Page 10

Housing Programme

Although the Minister of Housing (Mr Fox) has announced an increase of 50 per cent, in the number of State houses to be built in the current financial year, the Government’s housing policy is basically much the same as the previous Administration’s. Addressing the executive of the National Housing Council, Mr Fox predicted that 2200 State houses would be built this year and 3000 next year. The Government, he said, intended to step up the State housing programme to what it was when the first Labour Government went out of office in 1949 about 4000 houses a year. In spite of this, he said he expected that the State Advances Corporation would make available a record total of £2O million this year for private home building. Both in its election manifesto and in statements since it assumed office, the Government has made it clear that the National Party Gov ernment’s policy of encouraging private home ownership is to be continued. Indeed, in its bid for office, the Labour Party competed for the votes of home builders by offering cheap finance and by its scheme for capitalising the family benefit The principal hindrance to the housing programme is still a shortage of suitable land. In February, the Prime Minister (Mr Nash) said the Ministry of Housing had sufficient undeveloped land for 20,000 sections, but only 1100 sections were developed. As land was acquired and developed, he

said, sections would be allocated first for sale to home builders and then for State housing. Where the State can contribute most usefully to solving the housing problem is not by the provision of orthodox homes, each on its own section. Particularly in the bigger cities, where the shortage of sections is most acute, centrally-situated blocks of multi-storey flats should be built in preference to new suburbs of State houses, remote from the business areas and creating serious problems for public transport, drainage, and other services. By the wise development of relatively small segments of cities, the Government could assist to prevent the growth of slums, provide highdensity housing on the best overseas models, and conserve valuable farming land which might otherwise fall victim to urban sprawl. Miss Mary McLean, of Christchurch, has already called the attention of the National Housing Council to this need. It has been stressed fairly often by townplanners and geographers; and only last month the Minister of Finance (Mr Nordmeyer) conceded that, in large cities particularly, the time had come to develop multi-storey flats. Because of New Zealand’s high cost structure and its desire to conserve overseas funds, building innovations should not be hampered by orthodoxy, and maximum use should be made of indigenous materials. Measures to remedy the housing shortage are at a stage where the future should be approached with caution, lest resources and finance are misapplied.