THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1920. HOUSING IN AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17596, 8 October 1920, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1920. HOUSING IN AUCKLAND.

It may be that the other cities of the Dominion are more fortunately circumstanced, but as far as Auckland is concerned the . shortage of houses is more marked than evejr, and the relief which may be expected from public enterprise within a reasonable time is insignificant. Houses have changed hands in unprecedented numbers, but this frenzied buying has brought no relief to the community as a whole; boarding houses are overflowing, and the conversion of large residences and apartments into flats proceeds apace, but still there is no noticeable decrease in the number of homeseekers. To the relief of this | abnormal and altogether unhealthy social condition public effort had on June 30 contributed one house. The State had, in addition, 14 under construction and was making preliminary arrangements for the erection of 100. The City Council's contribution was 10 houses under construction at Grey Lynn. There are in these various, categories a total of 125 dwellings, which are obviously insufficient to meet even immediate requirements. The City Council proposes to extend its building operations, but until the Government either gives the local bodies bigger housing loans or more attractive borrowing powers it cannot be expected that municipal action will be a very pronounced factor in relieving the housing shortage. For purposes of comparison it may be noted that there are in the city 14,061 dwellings, in Mount Eden 2820, in Mount Albert 2315, in Onehunga 1425, in Newmarket 730, in Devonport ITS?,, in Takapuna 870, in Northcote 395, and in Birkenhead 543 Having regard to the the housing position in Auckland there appears to be,.-'reasonable ground against the n egJg£fe H orthis city by the housing ! bjfinch of the Labour Department. *?he. statistics covering - the operations of the State to June 30 give the following comparison between Wellington and Auckland: Houses under con- Com- Pro- . Btrnctioa. pleted. jeoted. Wellington 139 6 350 Auckland 14 1 100 It would be ungracious to dispute the pressing needs of the capital city, but it is difficult to believe they are so overwhelming as to justify these figures. So lop-sided, indeed, is the first instalment of the housing programme that almost half the State expenditure is being concentrated in Wellington. Thus at the •end of June there were 139 houses under construction in Wellington, in the whole Dominion 305 ; 6 houses had been completed in Wellington, in the whole Dominion 13; and 350 houses were projected in Wellington, in the whole Dominion 780. It would be interesting to know the reason for this violent disproportion and the system adopted in allocating houses to the various centres. At first glance it appears to be a case of the conditions coming under the eyes of the department receiving earliest treatment. As far as is known there has been no attempt to take a census of housing requirements throughout the Dominion and until this is done there is grave risk of the building programme being grotesquely proportioned. If the local authorities in Greater Auckland were to investigate the housing conditions within their boundaries they would be able to lay before the Government a very strong case for more sympathetic treatment of this city. It is easy to under-rate the difficulties of State housing enterprise, but candour compels the admission that a promising start has >been made. The programme now in hand embraces over 1000 houses, of which 292 are under construction, and time and experience will better these figures. The weakness of the State scheme appears to be due less to technical deficiencies than to lack of specific information as to the magnitude of the task involved. There is no published estimate of the number of houses required in each centre, and the estimate for the whole Dominion is more or less conjectural. The first annual report of the Housing Superintendent contained a calculation that private enterprise would erect 21,800 dwellings by the end of 1922, leaving a presumed deficiency of 3950 to be made up by public enterprise. But to the extent to which the estimate of 21,800 privately-built houses rests on pre-war experience it is unreliable. There are many factors ■ checking private building, chief of which is the impossibility of build- - ing at present prices for renting. : The community has depended very , largely on the landlord in the past, i The landlord has now gone out of I ]

business and until his prospects are more hopeful he is not likely to lend a hand in building. For this reason the State may be called upon to provide a very much larger number of houses than it now contemplates building. Timely investigation on this point will at. least prevent the whole housing scheme being based on a fundamental misconception.