STATE HOUSING SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17872, 29 August 1921, Page 8

STATE HOUSING SCHEME

MIRAMAR SETTLEMENT.

FIXING THE RENTALS.

DEPARTMENTS EXPLANATION.

A stir was recently caused among the occupants of the workers' homes at Miramar, Wellington, by the receipt of a letter from the Housing Branch of the •Department of Labour in reference to the rentals to be charged for the dwellings. The letter stated: — " With reference to the rental being charged for the occupation of dwellings at Miramar : This matter ha 3 been further considered by the Housing Board, and I have to point Out that the position is as follows :—

" The tonal cost of the dwelling, including section and administration expenses, is estimated to be £1125. It is not possible to arrive at the exact cost of the dwellings until the whole of the houses comprised in the contract are completed. As the statutory maximum is at present £1000 for a concrete dwelling, it will be necessary to ba\o the Act amended to enable us to enter into to sell the dwellings at the present cost. The Government proposes to ask Parliament to amend the Act nest session. Meanwhile it was decided to let applicants have possession of the houses as tenants, and a rental was fixed sufficient to cover all charges, viz., interest, insurance, rates, maintenance, and depreciation—or 8 per cent, of the estimated cost. This is not a high rental compared with those charged ior similar houses. When the Act is amended, any amount paid as rental in excess of the instalment to purchase, which is estimated at 27s per week, will be credited to you. " I would point out that we have many applicants on our waiting list who are quite willing to pay the rental, and enter into an agreement on similar terms to those you are asked to agree to. " However, the board has decided to reduce the rental to be charged from 34s to 50s a week, the latter figure being barely sufficient to cover tha charges, and not including depreciation. " I have therefore to call upon you to sign the agreements which await your signature at the office of the Labour Department, within seven days of the date hereon, and to pay the rental as above stated, viz., 30s a week, otherwise steps will be taken to obtain possession of the dwelling and to give it to another applicant dft our waiting list." On inquiries being made it was learned that the prices of the houses had fluctuated because the prices of materials and labour had fluctuated. It was explained that the houses were not let by complete contracts, as the work was done in any way that the department was able to arrange for, namely, complete contracts were let for certain trades, the contractors supplying their own materials; in other cases, the department let contracts for labour only, finding if-necessary to purchase and supply the materials itself. For tMs purpose, the department chartered a scow to bring timber to the job. Some of the work was done by day labour. It was stated that the department could not supply a detailed statement of the actual cost of materials, etc. The sum of 157s per week fixed as the rental consisted of the statutory payments of instalments of principal and interest, which, in the case of a'dwelling disposed of on a 3&£year instalment table, comprised 6 per cent.- including both principal and interest at 5 per cent. The interest was reducible to per cent, for prompt payment. It was not expected that the rents or instalments of all the houses would be the same, as some of the houses were finished earlier than others.