HOUSE ACCOMMODATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 14, 6 October 1944, Page 5

HOUSE ACCOMMODATION

COUNTY COUNCIL'S SEARCH

PERMANENT HOMES FOR OFFICERS The of establishing •permanent homes owned by the County Council for the benefit of its officers was fully discussed at the last meeting of the when it was decided to proceed with the inspection of other suitable anA Ajlso to obtain particulars from the Hamilton Borough Council of the! houstes erected l there at a cost of £850 each.

Cr McCracken gave it as his opinion that it would not. be possible to finance the. houses from County funds as most of their surpluses were earmarked and they would therefore have to be financed from loans.

"I am against that," said Cr Hunter. "I don't believe in raising loans for such purposes. Why couldn't we finance them from urn expended loan monies or profit from the Te Teko plantation account?"

"This idea of building in town is uncalled for," said. Cr McCready. ''The 1 Council's job is to find accommodation for those, who may be livling in the never-never and not in the cities where, another authority operates." He asked what the Council was going to do next. Loan moneys he said should never be »■ ,y 9 directed to the building of homes for those who should find them for themselves. Why couldn't the State undertake that responsibility? The Council did not seem to be able to concentrate on the job in. hand. The Chairman: The trouble is to find houses in the intervening years when accommodation is so difficult. Cr McCready: But where, are we heading for? We've got something else to do without trying to find houses. The Chairman: We're not building for the joy of it. IH; is part of our duty to maintain roads and bridges, and to do this we must have officers. We can't have officers 5f there, is no accommodation for them. Cr McCracken said that he considered the only mistake the Council had made was that it did not tackle the problem years ago. At the present time they could give their staff no security, of tenure at all. The houses would become an asset to the ratepaj r ers and would be in their interests in maintaining the progress of the County. Cr Burt: It's no use telling me a house is an asset. The maintenance more than eats up your rent. Cr McGougan: The only thing I'm worried about is the high price of building at the present time. Cr McCready: That doesn't matter. Cr McGougan: Why not. Cr McCready: Well you're going to charge the poor de.vil who rents it enough to offset whatever money you pay out. Cr McGougan: I didn't mean that. Cr McCready: Well, you said so. Cr McGougan: They would have "to pay it in any case to someone. /Cr Butler: We're only wanting houses lor a few of our senior officers. Cr McCready (heavily sarcastic): Nothing for the underdog. That's a nice, sort of thing to say. You're not prepared to give anything to the ■worker; only two or three privileged persons. I hope the staff will take particular notice of that. Cr Butler: I take exception Ko that. I am out to help the worker as much as. anybody, but we must have men to control and employ these workmen. Cr McGougan said he was in strong favour of building new houses if possible and would like to know something of the Hamilton housing scheme.