Labour’s Housing Policy

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 307, 22 September 1943, Page 6

Labour’s Housing Policy

Si r —Qne of the Labour Party’s election advertisements makes much of their housing policy. Is it really as good as it sounds? The Labour Party snidth a t they would build houses around £6OO, but everybody knows that they eventually cost about £l2OO each, which is not so S °lt'is stated that private enterprise fell down on the job of building houses — under conditions imposed by the Labour Government it probably did, as private enterprise could not afford to build houses at inflated values. When a private builder builds a house lie has to build to a reasonable price and build houses that are attractive to the public. A word about the renting of Government houses: A friend of mine has a Government house and pays £l/9/3 a week rent. If he lives in this house for the next 25 years he will have paid to the Government approximately £l9OO and the Government still owns the house. Is this helping the working man? Of course there should be available houses at reasonable rentals for people who do not wish to own them or for people who might not be slaying long in one district, but surely some arrangement could be made whereby the houses can be bought from Hie Stale .'it a nominal weekly payment, a few shillings higher than a straight-out rental. Surely after a man has paid £l9OO by way of rent for a house which cost the Government £l2OO to build he is entitled to own it? Perhaps at the end of 25 years the houses may not be worth owning, hut surely this will not be so, specially as they have cost about double the original estimated price.— I am, etc., RENT IN PERPETUITY. Wellington, September 20.