Evening Post. FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1938.

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 83, 8 April 1938, Page 10

Evening Post. FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1938.

THE CITY AND ITS HOUSING

In view of the vital relation of the proper housing of the people to the welfare of the community—a fact realised all over the world today— the results of the first housing survey of Wellington, embodied in the report of the City Engineer (Mr. Luke) to the City Council last night and published elsewhere in "The Post" today, will be regarded by citizens, we fear, with feelings of deep disquiet. The survey was carried out by a special staff of investigators last year under regulations issued under the Housing .Survey Act, 1935", one of the last acts of the late Government. The work took over six months and the results show every evidence of the utmost thoroughness, furnishing, in the words of Mr. Luke, "a vast fund of information which will be of inestimable value for many purposes in the future." The report reveals a shortage of dwellings beyond the worst anticipations, and an exploitation of that shortage by a system of "house-farming" of former onefamily dwellings in overcrowded apartments and "flats" let at exorbitant rentals. This the City Engineer describes as "the most serious feature disclosed by the survey," adding:

There are no legal powers in existence to control this harmful development, and many families are living under conditions which are far from satisfactory; they do not enjoy the privacy and amenities requisite to family life, particularly where there are children to be reared. The sharing of cooking equipment and sanitary conveniences by several families is very undesirable.

The living conditions in these "socalled flats" were unanimously condemned by the investigators in the personal impressions they were invited to give on their survey. It will also come as a shock to the public to learn that out of the population of 109,261 covered by the survey—which did not include accommodation in hotels—no fewer than 22,663 persons were living in apartments and.7226. in boardinghouses. The standards by which housing accommodation was judged by the investigators was laid down for them in the regulations and cannot be called unduly high or severe. Yet out of a total, for the city and suburbs, of 29,507 dwelling units— dwellings used by one family, flats and apartments: —no fewer than 7377 were classed as unsatisfactory, that is, almost 25 per cent. Of the 2201 buildings described as "apartment houses," containing within them 6290 dwelling units, over 86 per cent, were unsatisfactory. On the "overcrowding" standard there was a surplus of 2894 persons in respect of 1837 dwelling units. A minor evil by comparison is the use of "baches" in the mid-city districts as dwelling units of an undesirable character. There are 227 of these. Part of the unsatisfactory housing conditions in Wellington is due also to the physical neglect of the buildings themselves. This was specially noted by the investigators, who found neglect of property, serious in timber houses, widespread and not confined to tenanted houses or to any particular part of the city or suburbs. Continued neglect would lead, it was stated, in a few years to dwellings being classed as unsatisfactory or beyond repair.

No special cause is assigned in the report for the present condition of housing in Wellington, but a graph chart showing the building permits issued for the erection of dwelling houses, together with the growth of population from 1920 to 1938, is most illuminating. The graph of population shows' an almost uniform rate of rise from 81,000 in 1920 to over 115,000 in 1938. The building graph, on the other hand, is a series of ups and downs from year to year, rising generally, however, from 1922 to 1930, when the permits reached nearly a thousand. From that peak they drop precipitously to under a hundred in 1932, round about which ..figure they remain until 1935, when there is a. steepish rise to over 400, followed by a fall again to about 260 in 1938, or nearly 300 including Government houses. On an average of 3.46 persons per family unit, states the report, 617 new dwelling units are required every year in Wellington, or, if replacement of houses demolished is included, 643. This average has not been reached. An important new feature in the housing problem is the decline in the size of the family unit, which was 4.28 in 1921, 4.05 in 1926, and 3.87 in 1936. On this new factor the City Engineer says:

It must be conceded that the phenomenal growth in the number of small family* units has rendered existing legislation and bylaws hopelessly inadequate to control the position, and has outstripped all possibility of the position being adequately met by the natural adjustment of building activities to meet changing conditions.

What Mr. Luke suggests as an "obvious solution" is the replacement of certain existing buildings by "suitable apartment houses or other

multiple unit buildings." This would, he says, "tend to alleviate some of the evils in our present housing conditions" and help to rectify original subdivisional mistakes which have handicapped the development of residential areas. The discussion by the City Council last night revealed a sharp division of opinion, on party lines, on the question whether the council itself should undertake active housing operations to help to meet "the shortage. The Mayor (Mr. Hislop), who said he considered the position serious, but not as bad as he had thought it would be, moved a scries of recommendations to the effect that the council should continue its policy of making available to the Government council-owned land and should likewise stimulate private enterprise by a similar policy towards private organisations for building purposes. As an amendment, Councillor Chapman moved that the council should co-operate with the Government in erecting homes for the people, and take advantage of the Government's offer to make funds available for the erection of dwellings. The amendment was lost on the casting vote, of the Mayor. There was a general agreement, in accordance with the suggestion in the report, that it was necessary to erect a large number of flats or apartment houses on modern lines within a reasonable distance of the centre of the city. Recommendations covering various aspects of this proposal were embodied in the resolutions adopted. Apart from these points the discussion bore out Councillor McKenzie's observation that the matter needed much more consideration. The problem, though urgent, is too big to be handled hastily. If large blocks pf flats are to be erected to replace dilapidated small dwellings, every provision must be made for open spaces for recreation, or the future state of the city will be worse than the present. Care must be taken also that the construction is not so costly and elaborate as to involve rentals beyond the means of the poorer class of tenant, whose needs any solution of the housing problem must meet. The housing survey itself should provide all the necessary data for determining these factors, and the City Council and its housing committee, with the help of the staff, should carry out the recommendations adopted with a view to the permanent solution of a problem that vitally concerns the future of

the city,