EMPTY HOUSES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 73, 13 May 1946, Page 2

EMPTY HOUSES

NORTH ISLAND HAS 3959 OFFICIAL CENSUS FIGURES There are 7136 empty houses in New Zealand, 3959 of which are in the North Island. This statement is official, and was issued following the recent taking of census. In view of the overwhelming demand for accommodation in New Zealand at present, this statement appears incredible, but it is, or was at the time of census taking, correct. In order to ascertain the manner in which this figure was arived at, Mr W. Sullivan, M.P., took steps to obtain a copy of the statistics concerning such dwellings—and discovered that Pukekohe, Matamata and Opotiki are the only three towns in the North Island which have no

empty houses. Statistics supplied which have been handed to us cover three classes of unoccupied dwellings—‘Away’ being houses where occupants were only temporarily away on holiday; ‘Empty’ covering houses without tenants at the time ef the census, such as empty houses “for sale,” “to let” etc.; and ‘Bach’ referring to seaside weekends, or holiday periods.

Two in Whakatane

According to the copy, Whakatane has 2 empty houses (your guess is as good as ours! Ed.) and no unoccupied baches. Opotiki on the other hand, as stated, has no empty houses, but has one bach vacant. Newcomers to Rotorua have a choice of 21 empty residences. On the other hand, if a bach is desired, their seekings will be fruitless; there are none vacant. Tauranga has room for 8 more tenants for houses, and one bach dweller. Those falling into the latter category however, need not be dismayed, for across the water at Mt. Maunganui, they have their choice of 50 such habitations (if they can stand the five-guinea-a-week touch). Those seeking houses at the Mount may be disappointed. There are only two available. Te Puke invites 3 home seekers to fill that number of empty houses. Vacant baches, on the other hand, are nonexistent.

Further Vacant Dwellings

Farther afield, Gisborne offers 26 roofs to cover homeless heads. 14 of these are bach roofs, but the other 12 cover untenanted houses. New.comers to Matamata are establishing a union of open-air dwellers. There is not so much as a cave vacant. Morrinsville where 4 houses and 3 baches are offering suggests more promise. New residents in Te Aroha have swooped with delight on the baches offering, and have established themselves firmly in every one. They have, however left 7 houses vacant for any persons contemplating becoming Te Aroha-ites. Waihi is the bach dwellers pro-

mised land; 152 are either on. the market or are ‘to let’. For those who would rather have a bath on the premises, 10 houses are offering. Similarly in Paeroa, there are 10 empty houses, but only 2 baches can boast no occupants. County Comparisons

County figures also supply interesting comparisons. In the Whakatane County, there are 24 houses and 70 baches vacant; in the Tauranga County, the figures respectively are 45 and 88; Rotorua County’s figures are 49 and 95, whilst those of the Opotiki County are 26 and 16.

Position of Cities

In the cities, the position seems much the same. There are actually plenty of empty houses (according to the report). In Auckland cities and suburbs, 283 houses are standing vacant, the owners gnashing their gums because tenants are unprocurable. Strange as it may seem, the only baches uninhabited are 42 in the City area. Hamilton boasts 45 empty houses, but its 1 empty bach still awaits an occupier. Wellington possesses similarly 236 uninhabited dwellings, and the baoh position is also very sound. Them are 120 vacant. Lower Hutt City ca*n boast 146 tenantless houses, b.ut only 2 batches. In the City of Bicycles (Christchurch to the uninitiated), 353 landlords, 199 of whom own houses, are crying out for tenants or purchasers. \These Figures (Official)

It is easy to see from the above figures (official) that New Zealand is a country of empty houses. In almost every town vacant houses stand depreciating, waiting for a tenant—any tenant—to step in and take over. The housing position in New Zealand cannot under any condition be described as acute, according to the figures (official). Only the many hundreds who have been living out of suitcases for months, moving from pillar to post, and tramping the streets day in, day out, looking for .a home, really know how utterly useless the above figures actually are.