HOUSE SHORTAGE IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 10

HOUSE SHORTAGE IN WELLINGTON

Residents’ Plight PROBLEMS OF BUILDING INDUSTRY "Worse than ever before,” was the unanimous opinion of estate agents approached yesterday for infoi mation about the acute housing shortage in Wellington. Some exhibited books filled since the beginning of the year with particulars of people engaged in a hopeless search for a house or flat. Though Hie majority are people able to pay about 35/- a week in rent, the shortage is not confined to this class. The supply of houses and fiats at £3/10/- a week or more is stated to be Still lagging behind the demand. New blocks of flats are being let long before completion. “We could let 1000 flats immediately at 35/- a week,” said Mr. F. G. Williamson, president of the Wellington branch of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. His Arm had not had a house to let on its books this year, and very few flats. Knowing the position was hopeless, people had almost ceased to put their requirements on the books, but when something was advertised they were on the dormat early in the morning and the oflice was desieged by telephone. There were about 30,000 bouses in Wellington, said Mr. Williamson; 5000 more were needed. Property values and high building costs made the erection of a house too costly a proposition of most of those who were seeking homes. In the case of houses already built, owners were asking high deposits, not many properties being available for less than £3OO cash. The profession was awaiting an announcement by the Minister of Finance concerning building loans by the State Advances Corporation, making provision for more liberal terms of borrowing. At present the position was rather uncertain, as an applicant had no means of estimating the size of the loan he was likely to be granted, nor the time likely to lapse before his application went tlirough. The announcement of -a fresh scheme was also being awaited by a small company now in proces sof formation, said Mr. Williamson. Its promoters believed that the building of smaller houses would meet the needs of a number of people, and these would be built at a lower cost than the average ruling at present. However, its operations would be too small to make much of a contribution to the relief of the general shortage. Private Building In England. The efforts of private enterprise to relieve overcrowding in England were demonstrated by Mr. Williamson from a graph. This showed the number of houses built in England in each year by local authorities,' by private enterprise with State assistance, and by private enterprise without State assistance. The figures for 1921, 1927, 1933 and the period in 1936 to the end of September were, in round numbers, as follows:—.

Thus for the nine months of 1936 private enterprise built about 81 per cent.) of the bouses built in England. Four Hundred Applicants. One house to let and 400 people wanting it was the recent experience of another Wellington agent. “Anybody who advertises a house can expect to have his garden thoroughly trampled,” he declared. Some cases of homeseekers represented real hardship, while possibly the worst feature of .all was that children were compelled to live in unsuitable conditions. The universal cry was for privacy. People wanted homes of their own instead of sharing someone else’s or living in rooms. They were doing everything they could, visiting all the agents, asking the butcher and the milkman to look out for a house for them; in short, organising their own intelligence service. One man secured a house by stopping a lorry with a load of furniture and inquiring "where from?” But mostly a house was snapped up long before it actually became vacant, and for those who came to Wellington from other towns the prospects were just about hopeless. The idea of community blocks of flats, with playing areas for children, was one generally commended, but it was pointed out that the success of such a scheme depended on fairly cheap rentals. Present-day building costs, it was said, precluded cheap rents. It was not until the completion of a block that the builder could estimate a rent that would cover his outlay, and in the blocks at present going up in Wellington there were few flats that could be let at under £3 a week. Effect of Legislation. The fact that few houses were vacant was stated to be a result of the legislation meant for the protection of tenants. Many owners preferred to let their houses stand idle rather than secure a tenant and find it impossible to get the house vacant again when desired. In this respect the legislation was considered to react against prospective tenants. Another point of general agreement was that Wellington has little chance of accommodating the thousands of visitors expected for the Centennial Exhibition. The householders who might be willing to letYooms were probably full up at present. "The situation threatens the success of the exhibition,” one agent declared.

Jan.Houses In In In .Sept. Built byLocal authori1921. 1927. 1933. 1933. ties Private enterprise, with 'State assist50,000 110,000 50,000 65,000 ance , 20,000 Private enterprise, without State assist100,000 3,000 1,000 ance 10,000 60,000 165,000 275,000