Town-houses for State tenants

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33626, 30 August 1974, Page 2

Town-houses for State tenants

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, August 29. State house tenants, some of whose children have grown up, and who are in sole occupation of larger houses, are being given the opportunity to move to smaller premises.

The aim is to release larger homes to families on the long waitinglists for State houses. Announcing this today, the! general manager of the State! Advances Corporation (Mr E.j J. Babe) said there was noj intention of putting pressure' on people. But the corporation, in conjunction with the Ministry of Housing, was! buying quality town-house 5 properties for people to move

to. The scheme was being implemented as part of the “design and build” programme weherby s2sm has been set aside to buy privately-built residential units on builders’ own land. Scenic view The Maupuia town-house block, in a very scenic part of Miramar, has been bought recently for $250,000, and will be available in this! scheme. This block contains! six one-bedroom flats and six! three-bedroom town-houses,, so the initial cost has been;

! comparable with the cost,! plus sections, of a similar! ! number of single units. j I The scheme is really a deli-! .cate exercise in public rela-l I tions. ’ The authorities appreciate! !that couples finally left alone, or perhaps with a small: (number of teen-age children,! would be loath to leave the' i State house which has be-j icome their family home. High standard

What is offered is above-: ; standat accommodation. Mrj » Babe does not like the use -I of the term "luxury accoms modation,” but Maupuia town-houses are certainly 1. well above standard State J rental accommodation. The i three-bedroom units each i have a garage, the singletl bedroom units a car-port and -'a storage shed. ! Each unit has its own! : clot-.es-dryer. The units are! I fully insulated and supplied! ’lwith panel heaters. Bath-} J|rooms are tiled and kitchens' "have colonial-styde fittings.) 'iThe two-level three-bedroom! I I units have a lavaton' on each! I level. Construction is '‘mono-! i lithic” concrete, with timber-1 I framed sub-walls. All units have sweeping views over Evans Bay. 400 ordered The Minister of Housing! (Mr Fraser) said later that 400 units of basically similar quality had been ordered and ■ that more would follow. I “This Government, like its 1 ,

(predecessors, has felt that to shift people to smaller units without their consent would be neither humane nor in the spirit and tradition of State i housing in New Zealand,” Mr j Fraser said. i A letter explaining the: scheme will be sent to tenlants in larger State houses.! This will emphasise the absence of compulsion — and I also the fact that, as proven (tenants, their co-operation in 'this experiment is desired.

Chch laler

Similar letters will go out in Christchurch as soon as the authorities have this type of accommodation available.