drastic shortage

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 12, 29 September 1944, Page 5

drastic shortage

{THE ACCOMMODATION QUESTION

WHAKATANE'S HOUSING

PROBLEM

Emphatic expression of opinion at the Chamber of Commerce meeting last Tuesday, left no room for doubt as to the average businessman's feelings with regard' to the Deputy-May-or's suggestion that temporary hutments should be established ait the Domain, in order to offset to some degree the drastic accommodation 'question in which from its acute form two years ago is * steadily going from bad to worse 1 . The subject was a vital one in which many speakers took part, and was stimulated by the fact that it is known that there are a [hundred home-seekers in the town already, and further that even at this time of the year Ohope is taxed to the limit to accommodate the •overflow from the. town. Mr E. R. Dillicar who introduced the subject spoke on it from a national viewpoint, and urged that •while the war was costing the Dominion £150,000,000 annually, at least £100 000, 000 should be devoted 3 to housing when the war was over ° -\ this sum to be raised by taxation^ and loaned out to ex-servicemen desiring houses of their own at £1000 interest free, over periods of 20 years, which ran out at 20s weekly. At. the. end of that term it would become the person's own property. For the private individual the same advance could be made but with an additional interest •charge. The. return from the. houses would be £5,000, 000 per annum which could be devoted towards perpetuating the scheme. One of the first essentials for a happy and satisfied community was the provision of goo'd permanent houses. The position today was totally unfair s and with the men coming home from overseas would become untenable unless something was done to relieve •it. He asked if. those in comfortable homes had ever paused to reflect that they held these good things only because brave men were willing to go out and fight an unscrupulous enemy and so keep him away from 'these shores. Mr Te H. Fergusson instanced an individual case where owing to the -acuteness of the situation men. in : good positions were faced with the -alternative of either leaving'because they could not find houses or of staying and paying permanently the high hotel tariff, which the aveifage man could not stand. The houseseeker became, so desperate that, he would gladly go anywhere for temporary- accommodation. Mr Fred Abbott supported the scheme for the Domain huts and urged that the Borough Council take the matter up. Mr Kingsley-Smith mentioned the hutments at Tauranga which were now open for appropriation from the War Assets Realisation Committee. Mr Creeke said that a defined Government policy was woven -around the housing question, and the tendency was to create a nation of State tenants. In spite of. this the houses erected by the State today were beyond the reach of the poorer wage-earner. Mr Warren said that the Borough 'Council had appointed a sub-com-mittee to go into the whole subject •of bringing Army huts over to the Domain and its Report was now being awaited. They could rest assured that everything possible would be done to' relieve the situation, of which the Council was fully aware, Mr Brabant: If you can get the Fair Rents Act modified, you will ;give encouragement to people to build houses. There's nothing in it for them as it is today. Mr Milne observed that even where persons' are willing to build,' it was not possible to do so for 12 monthpi owing to the Government appropriation of the timber and the control now exercised. It was decided to represent to the Borough Gbuncil that the Chamber "viewed the position with the greats est concern and requested that it be treated as most urgent; also that an effort be made to obtain a survey of the position with 2 view to obtaming the. exact number of persons who required homes in Whakatane.