MONEY FOR HOUSING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3828, 2 November 1936, Page 5

MONEY FOR HOUSING

GOVERNMENT’S OFFER TO LOCAL BODIES. STIMULATING EMPLOYMENT AND BUSINESS. The Government intends to make £1,500,000 of the £5,000,000 appropriated for housing; available tor local authorities desiring to conduct schemes of housing at a rate of interest of 3 per cent. This intention -,vas announced by the Prime Minister, as Acting-Minister of Finance. “It must ba obvious,” Mr Savage said, “that the Ministry of Housing will not be able to inaugurate schemes for the four main centres as well as every other city, borough, and rural centre in the Dominion, in the first few months of its operation. The necessity for overtaking the housing shortage is of considerable urgency, as is evidenced by numerous references in the daily Press, and local authorities are in the position to heln this. Government and at the samci time help their, own communities tremendously by availing themselves of the generous financial aid now being offered by the Government. PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT. “It should be pointed out that it is in the interests of building organisations in every town that the local body should embark on a house-build-ing scheme, thus giving employment to local building organisations, to local craftsmen and to the local unemployed. Thereby business conditions as well as housing conditions would be bound to show an improvement. No doubt many local uodies will prefer’ to engage in and control their own schemes rather than wait for the Government to prepare schemas for the erection' of houses in their areas. Hence, both from the viewpoint of rehousing the. people without delay and from the view Tpoint of giving local industry an impetus it is to the advantage of local bodies to take full advantage of the Government’s offer. “The sum of £1,500,0'30 will be made available to local bodies at an interest rate of 3 per cent., the term of th,? loans being not leiss than 30 years, but, for the purpose of fixing rentals or conditions of disposal the Ministry of Housing will approve of local bodies basing their figures on a rate of interest sufficient to allow a reasonable margin to provide for all contingencies and liabilities. Under these conditions, all local bodies are expected Ito engage with confidence and enthusiasm, with resultant improvement to the appearance of their towns, to the trade of their business people, and to the employment of their own citizens.

OUTLINE OF PROCEDURE. “Before the application of any local authority for a special housing loan at 3 per cent, will be considered bv the Local Bodies Loans Board, it will be necessary for it to prepare plans, specifications, and (estimates for the approval of the Ministry of Housing. Loans will not be made available for any type of housing; for instance, a loan would not be approved for a scheme involving the construction of houses costing more than the Ministry of Housing believes to be a reasonable price for a worker’s home of hign standard. To avoid misunderstanding and unnecessary delay, the Ministry of Housing will be prepared to advise and cooperate with local authorities in the preparation of their schemes. “It is intended that the money to be advanced to local bodies shall be used to build a house that, as far as possible, will be a New Zealand-made house. No loan to a local body will be approved whlare the quantity of foreign materials to be used is in excess of what the. Department of Housing Construction believes to be essential. Where the Department of Housing Construction, by virtue of its large-scale operations can ’secure materials at a low cost it is hoped to be able to evolve a system under which local authorities will be able to obtain similar benefits. “Where local bodies have areas of land suitable for housing and are prepared to furnish such land with utilities such as roads, lighting, drainage, etc., the Ministry of Housing will, a,t the request of the local authority, be willing to undertake the preparation and construction of housing schemes, the cost of same being charged to the local body loan.