STATE HOUSING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23166, 12 October 1938, Page 12

STATE HOUSING

!NEW SOUTH WALES PLAN COST OF £80,000,000 FAMILIES IN TENTS AND HUTS [nunc otra ows cohekspondkkt] SYDNEY, Oct. 4 7 Far-reaching measures to improve housing conditions in New South Wales have been forecast by the Premier, Mr. B. S. Stevens. Not less than £30,000,000 would be required, over a number of years, to eliminate sub■tandard housing in the metropolitan area alone; he said. The measures Mr. Stevens foreshadowed included: Cheaper and faster transport to outlying suburbs, legislation to eradicate slum conditions in the Port Kembla district, which has progressed rapidly into a great industrial centre; setting up of one authority to adjust the financing of housing schemes; probable creation of a sinking fund to aid prospective home-builders who cannot find the 10 per cent deposit needed to get a building loan under State indemnity; expansion of the> Homes for Unemployed Trust, which is providing more than 600 houses a year, at 6s a week, for unemployed and intermittent workers; and an agreement by which the Government hope* 'that reasonable rentals < .will be fixed for tenants dispossessed of their homes by slum clearing. The possibilities of a Government housing scheme for Port Kembla will be discussed by the State Cabinet shortly. For some years hundreds of families, unable to obtain housing accommodation in the town, have been living in huts and tents in the vicinity of the steel works. Many of these habitations are without a water supply or sanitary arrangements, and constitute a danger to the health of the occupants. Most of the men are working in industries at Port Kembla and could afford to pay rent, but neither cottages nor fiats are available. Their homes are niado of kerosene tins, bags and odd scraps of building material and their cooking and washing arrangements are primitive. A deputation, including representatives of Churches, unions and municipal bodies, last week placed the position before the Minister for Social Services, . Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Davies, member for the district, declared that he had travelled throughout Australia, but had never seen people huddled together in such terrible circumstances. The Minister said that he realised the seriousness of the position and promised that he would place all th«» facts before the Government.

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