NOT A NEW PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1944, Page 6

NOT A NEW PROBLEM

THE SEARCH FOR HOUSES . .." ,;.,.-'. (E.C.G.J. :,-■ . :...;... : - Among the items offered for sale in an auction sale of books in Wellington; this week was a scrapbook of Press: clippings over the past half-century.. One article r at least, among its contents may offer some solace to the househunters of the present day,, for it shows that there was an acute housing shortage in the city in the early days of this century. The clipping is from the "Evening Post" of 40 years ago, and tells how an. advertisement in "The Post"1 for * a "comfortable cottage- of three rooms in: Te Aro," had "worked on the minds of a houseless and desperate population tp such an extent that the broker, on arriving at his office between 8 and 9 o'clock,, found a species of football, match going on outside his premises. . . . Excited people blocked the pavement, hurtling and shoving, in order to get in first and secure the cottage, and displaying as much agitation, and anxiety as if the three rooms formed their only hope of life." :, "BEST PLACE TO MAKE MONEY." , A land agent was quoted, as saying" that "there are far more people in Wellington than the-city has' accommodation for, and the eagerness to obtain houses is so great that there are practically no places to let anywhere." The reasons were stated r.to be that many new business firms had. started and brought employees with them, and; also, many workmen had come from Australia to work on the tramway electrification which was then under way. Another explanation was that "Wellington was the best place in the colony to make money.in." - ■■ , The average house rents were given as follows: Three rooms, 7s to 10s; four rooms, about 15s; five rooms,, 18s to £1;, six rooms, £1 to 255. Just as today, there were many cases of two' and three families living in one house. Then comes the following assertion, which has- a familiar ring in these times: "One of the chief obstacles to more extensive building, the landlords allege, is the stringency of the- restrictions on building.. The landlord, it was explained, is- so hedged about with conditions that it is unprofitable to build near the centre of the city, or within Greater Wellington at all, in fact." " "The Post's" informant considered that relief would be' found in an exodus into the suburbs, chiefly the Hutt district, where rent was then 25 per cent, cheaper than in the city. Asked what was a fair return to the landlord, the agent considered 6 per cent, would be the figure. The selling market was quiet because "people do not know what the effect of the electric trams will be." The increase in rent during the preceding five years had been from 15 to 20 per cent., due largely, it was considered, to the rising price of land ranging up to 50 and even 100 per cent., and the increased costs of building. . • THREE ROOMS, THREE FAMILIES. But there is an interesting, story behind the outcome of the advertisement quoted at the beginning of this article. Inquiries revealed that the 'comfortable cottage of three rooms" was let to two people, who sub-let portions of it to two newly-married couples, making three families in the three rooms. House-hungry Wellingtonians of today would willingly pay five or six times the rents quoted if they could get the accommodation , they desire, put perhaps there is some small comfort m knowing that a previous generation had to put up with exactly the same trials of house-hunting and house-sharing that the young people of today are going through.