The Press SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1972. Families and houses

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 14

The Press SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1972. Families and houses

In his opening election address the leader of the Labour Party (Mr Kirk) suggested that small houses —a consequence of the present high cost of housing—are among the economic pressures causing the breakdown of family life. Mr Kirk was dealing with aspects of New Zealand life that are at the centre of many social problems. The problems are complicated, and the arguments about them are often, on the surface, irreconcilable. On the one hand the failure of parents to give their children adequate guidance is deplored; on the other hand the supposedly earlier maturity and independence of young people are widely admired. The voluntary independence of some of the elderly, and the enforced isolation of others, are matters of public concern; both increase the demand for institutional care and separate accommodation. The increasing tendency for whole families, or of the younger members of families, to move to the cities has much to do with the change.

The community’s sense of care for other people is probably as strong as ever; but as time goes by it is translated into action less and less as a matter of personal responsibility, or family duty, or even neighbourly concern. Urban growth and personal mobility have made customary family ties more tenuous, and greater responsibility is laid on the State—or, rather, its employees—for the care of the young and the old. The severing of close family ties seems to lead to a diminishing tolerance of others and regard for their interests; it might well account for much of the bewilderment among young people who find themselves out of sympathy with the community in which they live. A greater awareness of a need to do something to help others directly—not indirectly and impersonally through some agency or public authority—might solve many of the social problems that appear to arise from a lack of selfrespect and from a lack of confidence in the worth of the community. It is fashionable today for people to blame “ the system it is not fashionable for people to find faults—and remedies—within themselves.

Economic pressures—especially those imposing change—undoubtedly cause social dislocation. Housing shortages in some areas must be counted among the causes of social disturbance; and the cost of housing must have a bearing on the ability of families to acquire their fair share of the community’s other resources. But anyone who wants to see more clearly a way through tangled social questions must try to identify causes and effects as exactly as possible. One of the factors in the supply and cost of housing is that families which once occupied a single dwelling now require two or three or more separate homes. To a great extent the fragmenting of family life is a cause, not a result, of housing problems.