The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1950. THE HOUSING PROBLEM

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 July 1950, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 21, 1950. THE HOUSING PROBLEM

IT is gratifying to learn from Mr. Goosman, the Minister in Charge of Housing Construction, that the Government intends to prosecute its own housing scheme with a view to providing dwellings for those unable to make their own arrangements. The Government is setting aside the colossal sum of £11,000.000 for the purpose of promoting housing and it plans to build during the coming year 600 more houses than have ever previously been built by the State. The total number of houses which it is contemplated will be constructed will be 4760 which indicates that the average price for the State constructed dwelling will be £2311. For those who cannot afford to purchase houses for themselves even under the table mortgage system of the State Advances Department or similar institutions this capitalisation must necessarily be high. It is generally regarded that a gross return of 8 per eent. is required to maintain houses in order and give a reasonable return on the invested capital. On this basis a return of £lB4 per annum would be the average rental required for the contemplated State houses. This implies a very heavy rent to be paid by the tenant or a very heavy subsidy provided in respect to the individual’s living costs if the rent charged is under the required annual amount. It can reasonably be objected that individuals who are fortunate enough to become State tenants have no right to enjoy housing at the expense of other people. To make such provisions for people is to discourage the effort to provide a self-owned home. The problem, however, cannot be argued on purely business lines. The fact which must be faced is that the housing shortage is acute and will cost the community heavily if it is not speedily solved. If the housing .shortage could be overtaken then the problem could, in large measure, be left alone by the Government as it would tend to cure itself. But until the shortage is overtaken the problem will remain a pressing one and must be considered not an economic but a social problem one. The shortage in housing is caused by a series of bottlenecks which are unlikely to be speedily eliminated from the economic structure of the country. There is a manpower - shortage, particularly in respect to skilled workmen of all sorts; a material shortage in many directions and there is what is of equal importance a transport shortage. How can such shortages best be overcome?

The extent of the housing shortage may not be fully understood at the present time and a new survey may be necessary in order to get a more detailed picture of the problem as it exists today. The Housing Survey made about 1936 revealed that then more than 20.000 houses were substandard; thousands more were badly in need of repair, or overcrowded, thousands lacked adequate cooking, washing and sanitary facilities. What is the condition of the housing situation today after the enforced slackness in building operations of the war period, the inability to carry out reasonable repairs to existing houses and particularly in view of the increase in the population and the prospective increase through the implementing of an immigration policy? It is reasonable to assume that the housing problem is now even more acute than it has ever been with the costs consistently moving farther and farther away from the level at which young people can contemplate undertaking to build their own homes. It is possible that no impression has as yet been made on the leeway that is required to be overtaken in the supply side of the problem.

Australia has heen faced with a similar problem and she has sought to meet it by importing prefabricated houses from Sweden. Several sample prefabricated houses have been imported into New Zealand but very little has been heard concerning them. It would be as well if some information were made available concerning these sample prefabricated houses. Further, nothing has been heard of the temporary dwelling, that is a dwelling which could be erected with a view to it lasting some fifteen or twenty years. Such housing units could most probably be erected with much less expense than the current average price of £2311. If only two of these temporary houses were to be constructed in the place and at the same cost of one permanent dwelling then the prospect is that many people who are now doomed to live and die in unsatisfactory housing conditions could be accommodated with some »f the amenities of a home much more speedily than will be the ease if the permanent dwelling building programme is adhered to. It is reasonable to assume that the temporary dwelling could be constructed at prefabricated factories and shipped to New Zealand and until that assumption is proved to be untenable it is likely to be firmly held by many people in the country. It will be argued against the construction of short-life housing units that they will create slums. Mr. Semple in his haste made such an averment. But this is without foundation. Tn every city in the world the slum exists in the once fashionable centre, from Martin Square in Wellington to Belgravia in London. The dwellings in a slum area are usually large and substantially built. It is because of their long life that they house slum conditions. The fashionable owner leaves these large houses, they are first used as boarding houses, then as rooming houses, then the population occupying the house overtaxes the amenities and when that occurs slum conditions are established. It is found that by letting smaller and smaller portions of the house a higher return is obtained and consequently the poor pay a relatively high price for their slum tenancies than do people in better circumstances. When a dwelling is small, as a temporary unit would be, the prospect of sub-letting is non-existent and when it comes to the end of its scheduled life it will probably be still good for a number of years when it will be standing as a written-off asset in the Housing Department's books. Such a further period would probably prove to be useful in balancing some of the losses that must occur as a result of letting of houses at inadequate rentals. It is the absence of any mention of the prefabricated dwelling and of the short-life housing unit that makes current Ministerial comment upon the housing problem incomplete. These two avenues of relief should assuredly be explored with the utmost thoroughness.