WANT 75 PER CENT.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 147, 23 June 1945, Page 9

WANT 75 PER CENT.

R.S.A; AND STATE HOUSES

In view of the large'number of exservicemen and. women (including' war widows) requiring houses ' and the likelihood that the situation would get worse, as houses becoming available would not keep pace with demobilisations in. the near future, it was decided at the annual conference of the N.Z.R.S.A. yesterday that the Government be asked/ that preferential allocations of State houses be increased to 75 per cent. It was also resolved that, priority equal to that of State housing should be given to building supplies and materials for ex-servicemen wishing to build their own homes... ■ : • . ■ In the committee report on the ject of housing it was agreed that the two main causes of shortage. ; _ of houses today were lack of materials and of skilled labour. It was realised that a large number of servicemen preferred a State rental house to building one for themselves, so no definite priority should be urged for one of these classes at the expense of the other. ± ■ < ■ In view of the need for even temporary accommodation for returning servicemen, it was resolved that an appeal be made to all owners of houses not fully occupied to make such accommodation available for the benefit of urgent cases. ;., ■' ' After consideration of remits relating to the possible re-financing at lower interest of servicemen's mortgages arranged before the war, the committee reported that the Rehabilitation Department was favourably considering applications for relief and further loan finance in this class, interest-free loans having been granted to equalise the rate of interest over the whole property. Also, it was considered that those who had purchased before the war had the definite advantage of much lower prices than todays. The conference agreed to delete the remits. LOAN LIMIT OF £1500. A Waikato remit that the rehabilitation housing loan should be raised above the present limit of £1500 was not approved by the committee, Mr. H B Burdekin, chairman, explaining that it was felt that*if the limit were raised the outgoings on the property could easily become too heavy a burden for" the ex-serviceman owner.. It was suggested by a delegate that the amount of the loan could be increased and the outgoings kept at a reasonable level by the use of a longer period of amortisation of the loan. However, the conference agreed that the limit should remain at £1500. The conference also decided to press for a fair proportion of houses to be built on rural lands and that difficulties facing builders in this connection be remedied in order to accelerate the rehabilitation of ex-servicemen on the land.