STATE HOUSES

Grey River Argus, 14 March 1939, Page 12

STATE HOUSES

FOR MOST URGENT CASES i Ballots Dropped AUCKLAND, March 13. The ballot system in the allocation of State houses to tenants, has been changed. It was stated by the Minister of Housing, Hon. H. T. Armstrong, to-day, that, so far as it is possible, the State houses will be let according to the urgency of cases and the circumstances of the applicants. Mr. Armstrong said that complaints had been made that persons who had been living in good circumstances had gained houses under the ballot system, whereas other’s, who were practically living in hovels, and often with large families, were unable to gain houses. The Minister said that every endeavour would be made to allocate the houses, as they were finished, in the order of the urgency of cases. Some persons in Auckland and in Wellington, he added, were living under appalling conditions, and the Department had a body of Inspectors who would visit the applicants’ present homes and report on the conditions therein.