TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, -and Fridays. FRIDAY, 14th AUGUST, 1936. THE HOUSING SHORTAGE.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3795, 14 August 1936, Page 6

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, -and Fridays. FRIDAY, 14th AUGUST, 1936. THE HOUSING SHORTAGE.

AN extensive house-building programme becomes a part of the Government’s plan. Details of an advance system, through the State Advances Corporation, have been explained by the Minister of Finance, and indicate a desire to meet the difficult circumstances and responsibilities of households. A first preference, if it could be so described, is to be given the section of the community with an assured and moderate income. This is wise. It should measure to the limits of necessity and dependability. A State housing scheme should never be guided by necessity alone, since there is no apt reason why the community must be saddled with the responsibility which arises out of improper financing. There has been too much liberality, or, rather, disregard of security margins in the past, and experience should have taught the lesson of discretion in the selection of securities. For the genuine home-builder the Government should provide assistance. The speculator or the thriftless should be allowed no qlaim. The Ministry has not been unmindful of the dangers which arise, and seems bent on assuring aid to those who are worthy. But it may not be easy always to segregate those who would abuse it from those who would use it, and the Government, if left alone, may find no alternative to a system of inquiry and investigation that becomes vexatious because of delay. In this regard voluntary effort and goodwill can make easier the Government’s task and speed the applications of those who are in genuine need. The civic authorities might well become a local clearing house for applications, or, alternatively, there could be a special advisory board in every town to check abuses. It is no light task, admittedly, but there are men in every community, surely, who could rise above the fear of criticism in the task of recommendation. What is needed is speed : n negotiation combining with security in the scheme itself, and those two qualities will be best preserved if local knowledge can be marshalled and employed in this vital State service which is destined to create either an asset or a liability for the community.

Reference to speed has a particular meaning in Te Awamutu. Housing is amongst the most pressing of local problems. The Mayor’s recent statement that thirty houses would pass into immediate occupation is no idle estimate; we believe that fifty would be nearer the mark. The Government, at all events, has now provided the machinery, and it should be possible and practicable for some form of local organisation to spring quickly into action to apply the facilities the State provides. By no line of reasoning would we urge that every houseseeker is entitled to participate. There are some who would not likely fulfil their obligations. They should be discouraged from lumbering the official I pigeon-holes with worthless applications. But there are many who are well qualified for assistance and who can be trusted to honour the terms of an advance by the State. It is not too much to suggest that, local initiative, fired by a sense of public duty, can devise voluntary effort to further assistance.

A part of the Government’s plan is the provision of rental houses, and, this suggests a line for immediate action. The Government mighty well, and at once, erect a dozen houses for State employees school teachers, postal officials, etc.—and thus relieve the pressing shortage. With its houses passing into the, occupation of its own employees, the Government would have a due measure of security and continuity of tenancy. Te Awamutu is not a stagnant town: it offers every sign of progress. Houses here for State employees are never likely to pass into disuse. The Government can, if it will, give very early effect to the scheme which has so much to commend it if a start is made at once with the erection of houses for its employees here. Such an opportunity of practical assistance to State servants, and at the same time of correcting a public disability as it exists in the present acute housing shortage, should not be missed by a Government which claims a desire to do practical things in a practical way.