“HOUSING SHORTAGE COUNTRY’S GREATEST SOCIAL PROBLEM”

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 October 1950, Page 4

“HOUSING SHORTAGE COUNTRY’S GREATEST SOCIAL PROBLEM”

Probably there is no moke Im' portajit social and economic problem in our national life than that of providing homes for our people. I am satisfied that many of the broken marriages in our country are due to the housing conditions under which so many young people are beginning their married life.” This statement was made to a large gathering of members of the women's section of the Wanganui branch of the National Party' yesterday by Mr. W. B. Tennent, M.I. for Palmerston North. Mr. Tennent. reviewed She many ways in which the Government was tackling the problem of alleviating the housing shortage. At the end of 1948, he said, there were 49,1)00 families seeking houses in New Zealand, and, while the number of houses built during 1949 was a record, tile number of marriages during the year exceeded the number of houses built by about 2000. The Government was helping ti.e situation in several ways. Immigrants granted assistance to come to New Zealand included a large proportion or carpenters, all aspects of prefabricated housing were being investigated ana people were being encouraged to build their own homes by the suspensory loan system. Already 2000 loan applications, involving a total of more than £3,000,000, had been received. The Government's proposal for Increasing the election of transit houses had been attacked, said Mr. Tennent, but these houses were necessary to provide immediate relief for the npst urgent cases. The transit houses were not intended to replace State houses, so tiie only criticism that he could see could be levelled at them was that occupants wouid have to share the laundry facilities. “We are still building State houses,’ Mr.‘Tennent stated. 'True, we have let no new contracts for State houses, but wo want to see the present contracts fulfilled before we let any more.’’ Defending the recent increase in State house rentals, Mr. Tennent said the Government had been faced with the necessity of finding some way of cutting out the losses on State houses. If the present measure had been Introduced a year earlier one-fifth of the State houses woulo now be let on sound economic rentals. The increased rents, he pointed out, were 25 per cent, lower than could have been fixed under the Labour Government's fan rents formula. Mr. Tennent said that some housing relief had leen provided by the amendments to the Tenancy Act. Because a tenancy contract could be drawn up for a definite period after which the owner could repossess the house, many more houses had been made available to tenants in the last few months.