Comment From The Capital Government In Quandary About Housing Council

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30479, 29 June 1964, Page 12

Comment From The Capital Government In Quandary About Housing Council

(From Our Ovm Rrporttr)

WELLINGTON, June 28. The promised meeting of the National Housing Council, the primary task of which will be to fix target figures for New Zealand’s housing needs in the next five years, may have to await until membership of the council is reviewed. The Government is believed 'to be reluctant to call a meeting of the council in its present form, because of a fear that targets and recommendations made by the council may be unduly influenced by political, rather than economic, aims.

New Zealand has been without a housing target for more than a year. The Housing Conference in 1953, set targets for 10 years, and appointed the council as a monitoring and revisionary body. . A few months ago-the Minister of Housing (Mr Rae) promised an early meeting of the council, and suggested that one of its tasks would be to fix target figures for the next five years. He said he did not favour 10-year targets and thought the shorterterm programme should be subject to review. It was ■ hoped this -meeting would take place before the session began. As it Is, Opposition members have slated the housing policy in the Ad-dress-in-Reply debate, and Government members have had little say in its defence.

It is now learned the proposed meeting will have to wait until after the establishment and operation of the study group on urban .renewal, which will examine and make recommendations on slum clearance and rebuilding in the main centres. ’

Not Yet Approved

The personnel of this group the chairman is the director of housing construction (Mr J. V. Jebson)—has not been finally approved. A fortnight ago the names of 12 members, six representing departments and six from professional and trade groups, were known. Two names may be added, one to represent the Government Life Insurance Office, which has been responsible for financing most municipal flat projects; and the other to represent Auckland municipalities. Several housing authorities, including some members of this group, are already concerned because of its size. It was supposed to be a working group, they say, but with 12 members it is unwieldy. The addition of an Auckland municipal representative is thought by some to be an unnecessary sop..

The Municipal Association already has two representatives, in Messrs M. R. Carter (Christchurch) and D. G. Porter (Wellington). Building authorities suggest that to introduce regional matters would tend to cripple its thinking and limit the group's view. In any case, they say, no records are being broken in getting this body into working order. Mr Jeb-

son, already has some suggestions to put before it, as a result of his overseas studies of city high-density projects, and there is no real reason why the group could not have met some time within the last month. There Is also the suggestion that the committee should be ancillary to the Housing Council, not in competition with, it for priorities. Council’s History A reason for the Government’s reluctance to call a meeting of the Housing Council may lie in the circumstances of the creation of the body. It was formed after the 1953 conference which was attended by more than 40 different trade and professional groups, and which assembled principally to raise the rate of home-building in

this country. The Housing Conference planned for the building of 206,000 houses in 10 years. The actual number built was 203,200. The council was set up mainly to facilitate meeting this target. It did so effectively while it had regular sessions—but its last meeting was in October, 1960, during the penultimate month of the Labour Ministry. On at' least two occasions during the time it met regularly, Government representatives came armed with figures which indicated the supply of dwelling units was

out-running the demand, and that a lowering of sights was called for. On both occasions the departmental view was over-ridden by a majority of council members . The council has a strong trade representation, whose view in the past has tended towards the provision of more houses for workers’ families, often regardless of the money involved or the strain upon the industry. The 15-member executive of the council consists of members in eight groups. Builders have two representatives, sub-contractors four (two each for employers and workers), building industry employees two (one from the Federation of Labour and one from the Carpenters’ Union), professional bodies one. local authorities two (one counties, one municipalities), financial interests one, suppliers’ organisations two, and women's organisations one. Some authorities say that for today’s problems this is a little too much an employerworker organisation, with too little reference to architects, planners, and financial experts. The pattern for the future, they say, is for a body more like the study group on urban renewal, with equal representation of departments and private enterprise, and an accent on specialised knowledge.