Ghastly housing problem

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 30

Ghastly housing problem

CHRIS SMITH is a housewife with two young children. She teaches part-time. She and her husband went overseas six years ago, were away for three years, and came back to find many changes in New Zealand. "We found people a lot more materialistic,” she said. “They are always wanting things — I’m sure half of it is to beat inflation. We are one of the few of our group who haven’t colour television. People seem to think that you should be interested in it. “The New Zealander’s lot is fairly comfortable, compared with others. But the

housing problem is ghastly. A house that we looked at seven years ago cost $8000; now it would be $22,000 to $25,000.

“It’s just so depressing; we were very fortunate that we got a loan. It was because we have always saved with the same place. It’s

hard for young people — they’ve both got to work for about five years. The pressures are fairly great. I

- work part-time because I - like to do something. With >. our second mortgage, there’s t nothing left out of my huse band’s money. Now that the 1 children are older they are / costing a lot more. “In general, incomes have t not kept pace with inflation. . o hcse cost shnntl

twice a good annual wage, but there are not many today who could do that.

“I find the price rises just ghastly. We’ve had to cut : down. Instead of puddings we now have fruit. It doesn’t hurt anyone. But it’s ; so depressing — all the ■ rises are hard on a family ■ budget. Many people are re- • stricting the size of their : families because they just

can’t afford to have children. Two or three are the limit ; not only in terms of the en- j vironment, but also in terms , of your pocket.” Mrs Smith said she appreciated New Zealand a lot. more after her stay overseas. Especially Christchurch. '“There’s so much on here if you look for it,” she said, | “although Christchurch does] stop at midnight. There’s) , nothing much on after that, j “You have to look for thei things to do here. It’s there] if you want to do it, espe-) cially if you are interested I in the outdoors. I like to] walk, and we spend a lot of] time on Banks Peninsula and'

at Arthur’s Pass. “It’s a fairly good country. A lot of New Zealanders think it’s the only country. People don’t like a lot of

criticism, but New Zealanders have become a lot more open-minded. Muldoon has raised a lot of contentious issues and New Zealanders

are becoming more aware of other countries, and not looking at Britain for everything.”