HOUSING SCHEME

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 282, 12 November 1936, Page 9

HOUSING SCHEME

Government Delay Affecting Building

CAUSING CONCERN By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, Nov. JI. The delay on the part of the Government in putting the housing scheme into operation and the procedure being adopted by the State Advances Corporation towards applicants for building loans ig stated to be having an adverse effect on the building trade. With the public waiting to see what the Government intends to do in providing homes, there has been a general slackening-off of cottage construction work.

The reactions as a result of this policy are at present stated to be causing many sections of the building industry serious concern, particularly the small builder and firms supplying his timber requirements. Even when the State’s housing scheme is in full swing, the builder in a small way expects to receive little benefit, if any. So far as Wellington is concerned, it is the intention of the Department of Housing to call for contracts for houses in multiples of twenty. It was pointed out to-day by a man connected with the trade that small builders were not in a position to undertake the construction of ten houses, let alone twenty, and finance hem during the building operations. Three houses, or at the most four, were the limit the small builder could contract for. “The man who really needs a house has no chance of obtaining a loan from the State Advances Corporation,’’ remarked one builder in a small way. An individual, ho said, apparently had no chance of obtaining a loan from the corporation unless he could furnish 50 per cent, of the security. If the corporation would make advances up to 70 per cent of the security, or 80 per cent at the outside, it would have given an impetus to the building industry.