HOUSE SHORTAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 13

HOUSE SHORTAGE

BUILDING PROGRESS WHAT FIGURES REVEAL YEARS OF WORK AHEAD EFFECT OF STATE SCHEME Although house-building in Auckland has accelerated since the construction of the first State houses began at Orakei in May,, 1937, official figures covering the past two years show that tlie rate of progress is still far less than is" required to overtake the needs of the .community. These needs in the main are to re-house families* no# living in~"3ecrepiff ibvercrdwded dwellings, couplea arid; to replace dwellings demolished on account of age or for other reasons. \

In the year 1937 permits for privately built houses, together with State houses actually commenced, in the Auckland metropolitan area totalled 1103; in 1938 the figure had risen, to 1867, making 2970 for the two years. On a population of roughly 220,000 ; , this works out at one new house to every 73 persons. Extent oi: Overcrowding

The housing surveys made by local bodies nearly two years ago showed the average house in 90 towns and cities to contain four persons, while about one house in eight was "below standard" and the 20,260 such houses contained 50,,686 persons more than they could properly accommodate. This surplus amounted to about one in 13 of the population embraced in the return, or 12 per cent. Assuming that Auckland conforms to the average, and that the present rate of building is on last year's level of one new house per annum to each 117 people, several years will he required to overtake this need alorne, without considering the other factors which have already been mentioned. Private and State Enterprise Of 5916 new dwellings covered by the statistics in 21 centres last year,, 2693 were State houses, and a further 514 of the latter were commenced in other districts. This makes it clear that, if all the building permits were acted upon, private enterprise erected 3223 dwellings to the State's 2693, or 530 more.

The latest figures on the progress of the Government's scheme were given at the end of January by the Minister, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, who stated that provision had been made for more than 6000 houses, nearly 2400 had been completed and more than 2200 were unijpr construction in 85 centres. . Subsequently, Mr. Armstrong said that if the aim of 5000 houses a year were to be attained, 3000 more tradesmen would be required. The. Waiting List

In January the State Advances Corporation had about 15,000 applications for houses on its books. While a proportion of these were doubtless not urgent, the figure is some measure of the need that exists. Considering that numbers of the worst-housed people in New Zealand are clearly unable to pay the rents charged for State houses, the total requirement is probably much greater. Another sign that the shortage is being but slowly overtaken can be found .in the notorious and increasing lack of houses of any kind for renting. This, no doubt, has been mitigated by the Government's housing, policy, but the effect of the latter upon it is not noticeable, at any rate in the larger centres. Considering that most dwellings m New Zealand are of wood and have a definitely limited life, the country has a long* task before it in providing homes for its people, unless pre-fabri-cation and other methods of producing houses in mass become established here and supersede traditional methods of building.