HOUSING SCHEME AT HAREWOOD

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24903, 17 June 1946, Page 2

HOUSING SCHEME AT HAREWOOD

INSPECTION OF TRANSIT FLATS

450 RESIDENTS IN NEW COMMUNITY

Members of the Christchurch City Council, members of Parliament, the housing committee of the North Canterbury Regional Planning Council, and representatives of the Rehabilitation, State Advances, and Public Works Departments on Saturday morning inspected the City Council’s transit housing settlement at the Harewood airport, where some 450 persons, most of whom had formerly lived in substandard houses or in overcrowded accommodation, are now comfortably housed in 108 flats converted from dormitory blocks of the former R.N.Z.A.F. station.

The settlement is rapidly acquiring most of the amenities of a self-con-tained community, including a grocer’s shop, dairy, and greengrocery. A school—7o of the 200 children in the settlement are of school age—is to be opened shortly, th.ere is a nursery play centre for the pre-school children, and efforts are being made to establish a kindergarten. There is a large and well-appointed social hall, in which dances are held once a week, and pictures screened as frequently. Church service* are held in the Air Force station chapel each Sunday evening and Sunday school classes have been arranged. Although more suited to summer than to winter activities, the playing fields of the station provide the residents with ample room for sports; there are tennis courts and a full-size swimming bath. A frequent bus service gives the residents easy access to the city.-

A feature of the lay-out of the flats is t.h6 provision of a separate bathroom for each. This is a feature not found in similar transit camps in other parts of New Zealand, and is regarded by the residents and by the City Council as one of the reasons for the general contentedness of the tenants. A minor criticism is that while hot water from a communal cylinder is supplied to the bathrooms, only cold water is laid on in the kitchens. Clothes washing is done in the large washing room built by the Air Force. “A Red Letter Day” Before an audience in the social hall of about 100 visitors and many of the residents. Mr F. Free, president pf the Tenants’ Association, expressed the tenants’ appreciation of wnat had been done by the City Council. The Mayor (Mr E, H, Andrews) said that the occupation of the last of the 108 flats was a red letter day in the history of the City Council’s housing department and of the council itself. It was surprising what had been made of the buildings available and reflected great credit on the architect (Mr T. Nelson), the City Engineer (Mr E. Somers) and fiis staff, and the housing committee of the council. “The housing problem is the most difficult one in Christchurch. It is the one that gives me the biggest headache, for I have half a dozen people coming to me every day asking for help,” said Mr Andrews. He was glad the City Council had been able to do something to help the most urgent cases, but he believed that in spite of the building activity by the State and private enterprise beween 4000 and 5000 houses were needed in Christchurch to-day. Cr. G. D. Griffiths, chairman of the council’s housing and town planning committee and Qf the special housing sub-committee, recalled that when he and Mr Somers went to Wellington 12 months ago to try to interest the Government in the proposal, they arrived to find a statement by the then Undersecretary for Housing in the Wellington newspapers to the effect that the Government would have nothing to do with sub-standard housing. Mr Nash, however, had immediately shown great interest in the scheme and when, a little later, it was found that Harewood - would be vacated by the Air Force, all possible assistance was given. Mr Somers, with the able assistance of Mr Nelson, prepared excellent plans in a very short time. All the Government departments concerned had given great help and the Air Force had assisted by vacating the buildings as soon as possible. Additional Flats Proposed “I know it 1 is not the ideal accommodation,” said Cr. Griffiths, “but it is a thousand times better than the accommodation some people have to put up with io-day.” He thought the settlement would be needed for five-years and possibly longer. The council had been anxious to extend the scheme but because of the lack of suitable buildings it seemed that six additional flats were that could be built. In thanking the staff of the City Council he mentioned especially Mr J. W. Huggins, the Chief Inspector, who had had the most difficult task of advising on the selection of tenants, “He has the welfare of the tenants at heart just as he had always had at heart the welfare of the tenants of the pensioners’ cottages,” said Cr. Griffiths, amid applause. Confessing that he had been rather sceptical about the scheme when it was first mooted, the Deputy-Mayor (Cr. M. E. Lyons) said he had feared the council might be creating housing conditions of which it would not be proud in a few years. However, a sufficient amount of money—about £4OO on each fiat—-had been spent to give reasonably good housing conditions. There had been four times as many applicants for the flats as could be accommodated, and the schedule of these applications was a distressing human document which brought home the sad housing conditions in the city to-day. The visitors were entertained by the residents at morning tea.