NINE PERSONS; THREE ROOMS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 205, 27 May 1944, Page 6

NINE PERSONS; THREE ROOMS

Bad Living Conditions FOUR YEARS WAIT FOR STATE HOUSE Mrs. Mary Harris, aged 39, is living with eight of her family in deplorable conditions in Martin Square, Te Aro. She has had her name down for a State house for four years, but has not yet got past the stage of being promised’one as soon as possible. She is due to lie evicted on Monday because the place has been long condemned as unfit for human habitation and recently it was decided that efforts be made to secure vacant possession, probably with a view to demolition. The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, the late Hon. T. Armstrong, and Mr. Chapman, M.P., have all seen the house, but Mrs. Harris is no nearer being placed in a dwelling of reasonable standard than she was when, three and a half years ago, she first took possession at 35/- a week, subsequently reduced to 26/-. No rent has been paid for several months, as is the practice with houses which are condemned. At the rear of the house is a tworoomed bach, occupied by a 79-year-old pensioner for seven years, at a rent of 12/6 a week. This absorbs more than a third of his pension, so he works on the wharves to the limit allowed persons in receipt of penisons. This bach is in equally bad condition; boards are worn and loose, spouting exists in patches, and the stove is a mass of bits and pieces. The house occupied by Mrs. Harris has nominally a living-room (three of the family use it to sleep in), three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a “kitchenette,” with gas stove. The health authorities have advised Mrs. Harris not to use two of the bedrooms. This leaves three rooms to sleep nine persons. When it rains sleeping arrangements have to be altered because of leaks. Floor coverings cannot be laid because a rap oil the wallpaper will bring down a shower of dirtuind dust and disturb the.rats which scamper away in the upper portion of the building. Windy conditions see the remaining wallpaper in the various rooms flap. The mantleshelf in one room has to be held up by a piece of piping because the back timber is too rotten to hold nails or screws. The living-room fireplace cannot be used; the kitchen range, which supplies the main warmth of the house smokes out the place in windy weather. There is no electric light because it is unsafe to instal it.

The bathroom is in a backyard washhouse in its last stage of life, the door hanging loose and the whole structure at an angle. Hot water for a bath has to be boiled in the nearby copper. The yard is earth surfaced, quite unsuitable for children to play in. Mrs. Harris’ family ranges from a son of 19 down to a daughter aged two. Two boys and one girl are working; the rest, except the two youngest, are at school. Mrs. Harris has a reasonable allowance from her husband and the working members of her family contribute well toward the general expenses. With what ig coming in, Mr. Harris says she can afford to pay even a high rent “if only she could get a house.” The council condemned the house a year ago, but has not forced action because it recognized that applying for a demolition order would not create a new home for Mrs. Harris. The landlord has been served with notices to repair, says Mrs. Harris, but considers the house past that stage. Now proceedings' are being instituted to bring matters to a head. Ministers, members of Parliament, social workers, health department officials, and others have all seen this house, and admitted its deplorable state. Mrs. Harris says she has made repeated calls at Parliament House. On her last interview she wap told that “houses do not grow on trees.” She has also been told, that the State houses likely to be. available are not big enough for a family the size.of hers, but she adds, a State house with three bedrooms would be a fairy palace. She has been told she will get one of the older State-owned houses. Mr. Chapman, M.P., wrote her on May 17 to the effect that he had seen a housing official “and he assures me that you will be supplied with a suitable house at the earliest possible time.” But on Monday Mrs. Harris faces the possibility of eviction. ■