5000 HOUSES WANTED IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 8

5000 HOUSES WANTED IN WELLINGTON

Government Blamed For Shortage -1 could let 500 houses to-morrow without the slightest difficulty if 1 could get them,” said a Wellington land and estate agent yesterday. “There are still droves of people looking for a house, a house’of any kind, and willing to pay good rents, too, bur they are simply unprocurable. The trouble has been caused by the Government’s indiscreet legislation. Il insisted on all sorts of restrictions with the result that the boomerang has come back. “The Government has created new departments and extended others in Wellington, aud as a result has transferred people from other parts of New Zealand to this city without a notion as to how they are to find accommodation. I know this to be the case because they have come to me and t<> other agents seeking houses. If they do happen .to find a bouse, the rent is high, again because of Government, measures, and the rising cost of living has rendered their lot much worse than it was formerly. "Wellington could do with 5000 houses, aud it is not likely to get them Ifi is impossible to get Ihe workmen to erect them, and contractors hesitate to quote fixed prices for building owing to the rising cost of material. The Government knows’ail about that, I assure you, through its housing activities. Don’t imagine that the Government houses are for the poor and needy. The poor and needy have no chance of getting them. Tenants must have an assured wage or income. I know of a case where a man earning £9 a week steadily, and with other interests, had no difficulty in getting a Government house. “Building houses by those who acquire sections in the suburbs is not so easy as the politicians would have the public think. Buy a section, get out plans, and take them to the Stale Advances, and see how much time elapses between the time of your application for a loan, and the time you get a definite ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ This deparlnu”:! is administered by men who know their job. . They are not going to lake tlnrisk of having these properties thrown back on their hands in the manner of a few years ago. But the pol Hcian.would have you believe that it is easy for anyone to get a loan to build a house.

“Of course, the building speculator has gone out of business. There Nno inducement for him to buy land here and there, and erect a few hundred houses. Had the Goveruiilent uoi interfered. there would not be the trouhl? that exists to-day. It would have straightened itself out. and rent*? would have been reasonable.’’