Urgent Need For Action To Stop Housing Decay

Press, Volume C, Issue 29602, 26 August 1961, Page 5

Urgent Need For Action To Stop Housing Decay

If substantial housing decay was to ‘be prevented in older areas, the planning of remedial action must be undertaken without further delay, said Mr A. P. Millthorpe, the fhristchurch City Council’s Chief Health Inspector, in an address to the health inspectors’ refresher course at Lincoln College yesterday. The problem was not just one for the larger urban areas, he said. Town and borough and also country areas were all affected in varying degrees by substandard housing conditions, and while large areas were not involved, consistent hous. ing action was still needed to maintain, let alone improve the position. When Bacon wrote that “houses are built to live in and not to look on.” he was writing in an age unaware of such things as building bylaws and community health programmes, said Mr Millthorpe, yet he touched on the fundamental reason why a mass of legislative provisions was needed in the modern complex society to control conditions in buildings in which people lived, worked and played. Once men merely built for shelter against weather and wild beasts. Later there were fortresses as protection against predatory humans, then spacious manors for the rich; but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there had been a growth of towns and cities of factory workers. New Zealand, a latecomer on the civilised scene, escaped the worst of the resultant “outrages.” but was not late enough to avoid some of the evils of badlyplanned. inconvenient and unhealthy dwellings. Pioneers It had become apparent to the public health pioneers that no scheme to improve the sanitary conditions of growing towns could succeed

unless healthy housing was provided to replace overcrowded and demoralising slums. Mr Millthorpe continued. The struggle had gone on slowly for years, and had yet to be won. New Zealand had been fortunate in being able to achieve one of the best, if not the best, over-all standard of housing in the world, he said, but there remained two public health problems. “What action should be taken on existing unsatisfactory dwellings that fail to comply with a minimum standard?” he asked. “Houses wear out and need to be repaired from time to time in their old age, and eventually have to be replaced.” Discussing housing needs. Mr Millthorpe said that in addition to strength and stability of housing there were welcome signs that durability of materials was being given some thought and that there was a break away from the so-called traditional methods and materials for housing. Thermal Comfort Little attention seemed to have been paid until comparatively recently to an assessment of thermal comfort and the efficiency of heating appliances. Sound insulation, fire resistance and efficient lighting had likewise been given scant attention. “On the other hand, obsessed by the evils of the past, our advisers seem to have isolated ventilation from comfort as though the two were incompatible,” he continued. “The installation of

fittings at back-breaking height for the housewife, the obscene array of stakes, soil and vent pipes of all kinds sprawled over outer walls are features that could well be given second thoughts." Mr Millthorpe quoted from a 1935 report by Mr J. G. Coates, a former Prime Minister, on the “slum problem” where he favoured a “direct frontal attack on slum areas or potential slum areas" and said that slum areas must be cleared and replanned.

“How true these comments have proved, and, unfortunately, how slow has been the reaction to the challenge.” Mr Millthorpe said. “Bad housing is still, in my opinion, one of the major public health problems in New Zealand.”

In a survey of 12,000 Christchurch houses, it was estimated that after consideration had been given to demolitions and conversions, the rate of decay (80 per cent, depreciated) would be 1600 units in 1955-56. 1850 in 1965-66. 2600 in 1975-76. 2900 in 1980-81 and 3300 in 198586 in the older districts of the city, Mr Millthorpe said. He then set out the legislation dealing with housing standards and conditions.