The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1921. CHEAP HOUSING SCHEME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16510, 22 August 1921, Page 6

The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1921. CHEAP HOUSING SCHEME.

The City Council is to meet to-mor-row evening to consider the report of a committee on the housing scheme submitted by Mr W. H. Winsor. The scheme as first submitted has been amended in some important particulars. The original proposal was to build four-roomed houses, using pinus insignis as the building material. "While Mr Winsor’s plan was regarded as a valuable contribution to the elucidation of a difficult subject, there were some misgivings regarding the erection of a large number of cheap houses oi. small sections. It was contended that the remedy might perpetuate instead of remove the evil of slum areas, and that the houses did not come up to the modern standard of workmen's homes. We must confess that we had some sympathy with that point of view. Ideas in regard to housing have advanced very considerably during the last decade, with the result that the luxury of ten years ago has become the necessity of to-day. Home building is nothing if not progressive, and it offers unlimited scope for the ingenuity of the builder and architect. Under ordinary circumstances it is desirable that the style of house erected to-day should show an improvement on its predecessors, whether the house be a mansion or a cottage. There should be no avoidable retrogression, because when a house is built it will probably be used for forty or fifty years. Some of the criticism of Mr Winsor’s scheme has been partially met by enlarging the plans to provide for the addition of sleeping-out verandahs, and the substitution of rimu for pinus insignis. This, if we understand the proposal aright, will practically give a fiveroomed cottage, and provision will he made for additions. We do not think that the scheme- should fall below that standard. Four rooms are not too many for the occupation of a married couple, and they are too few when tho accommodation of j’ofung and growing families has to be provided for. We think that the City Council, and many of the citizens who will be appealed to for assistance, would be helped if a sample cottage ■were erected before the whole scheme is launched. Plana and measurements convey little to the inexpert eye,but a solid example on a selected section would be a most informative illustration. Tho provision of a large number of houses might bo delayed, but the City Council should rot permit itself to be rushed into a large and expensive permanent scheme without fully understanding what it is doing. The cottages will not be built as a temporary expedient to tide over a year or tw r o of the home shortage. These dwellings will be standing for thirty, forty or fifty years, and no doubt should be left about the fact that they will be the kind of dwellings which should be possessed by a modern and progressive community. With a view to providing temporary relief, tho City Council might offer to co-operate with the Government in completing the Northcote Road Settlement Scheme as 6peodily as possible. A large number of workmen’s homes are being erected there, but they are not being made available quickly enough. If the Government would accept tho aid of a citizens’ committee and the City Council, the whole scheme cotild be carried out in short order, and its effect on the shortage would be felt at once.