HOUSES FOR THE PEOPLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 124, 21 November 1942, Page 6

HOUSES FOR THE PEOPLE

Appreciation of the work of the State Housing Department was expressed at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Town Planning Institute. And most people will agree that the Housing Department deserves praise. They will agree also, however, that a complete solution of the housing problem demands that its efforts shall be supplemented in other directions when house construction can be resumed. A high standard in quality building has been set. At the same time it has been shown that, even with mass production and the ability to finance the scheme at a very low rate of interest, it has not been possible to build houses at a sufficiently low cost to bring rentals within the reach of everybody. If a State housing scheme is to fulfil its real object, it must be able to find homes for those on the lower incomes, and this necessitates a revision of the present building programme. Costs must be reduced so that rentals can be modified to meet the needs of those who can pay so much in rent and no more. At the present time average earnings are high, owing to

wartime conditions and overtime, but the State Housing Department must look to the future and provide homes which will l?e within the reach of normal incomes.

It is desirable, too, that the Government should not overlook the natural desire of many people to own their own. homes. The. State Advances Department exists for the purpose of assisting people, to build houses: for themselves, but under existing conditions, with costs at an almost prohibitive figure, and labour difficult to procure, there is a natural hesitancy on the part of many to enter into commitments which may prove an embarrassment to them in an uncertain future. That, however, should not be accepted as a reason for discouraging private building. It should be possible to devise some scheme under which the obvious advantages of mass production and cheap money, would be available to the private builder as well as to the State. In this way the State and private enterprise could combine in assisting to overcome the very real shortage of houses. House building should not be a monopoly of the State; private enterprise should be allowed to play its full part, and in order to do this it should receive the fullest possible assistance and encouragement. To some schools of thought a great State tenantry may appeal; but it has its weaknesses and is not by any means in keeping with the self-reliant character which we still aim to foster in New Zealand.