WORKERS' HOMES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 239, 3 July 1919, Page 4

WORKERS' HOMES

APPLICATIONS IWTXNV EXPECTATIONS. Recently the Labour Department invited applications for the • 200 workers' dwellings authorised by Cabinet as a special measure, owing to the shortage of houses. Persons earning not more than ,£225 a. year are eligible to apply for these homes, which will be built in accordance with the wishes of the successful applicants. A deposit of ,£lO is 10quired from a successful applicant, and the balance of the cost of section and home is paid off by instalments spread over a period of years.

The period allowed for applications for t.he 200 homes expired at the end of June. The number of applications received by the Department from all over (he Ic.minion is 320. about 100 of those earning from Wellington people. This number is much smaller than was anticipated. The figures suggest either that the housing shortage is not as acute a 9 it has l»en represented to be, or else that the people eligible to apply have uot lealised the advantages that are oifcred them under the Government scheme. Tlio payments required to cover interest and gradually extinguish the principal are less than the rent that would be paid for a houso of equivalent value, and the occupier has the advantage of eventually becoming the owner of his home. The deposit of £W might be a difficulty in some cases.

Some workers may have been deterred from applying for these homes by tho high cost of building, which will affect the pnyments during tho full period of the purchase. The Labour Department, as a.matter of fact, expects to be able to build more cheaply now than privnto builders will he able to do for tho next year or two. The erection of many homes at the same time will permit of' important economies being made. Each application has to be reported upon by tho district officers of tho Labour Department before it soes before the State Advances Board. The Department has commenced to make airangemonls for the building of these homes, however, and it will be in a position to call for tenders within a few weeks. In the allocation of tho 200 houses, tho Department will have regard to the scarcity of houses in the various district. It is possible that some of the houses will be built of concrete. This v.ill be a question of price. The Department tccognises that at. a certain advance on (lie cost of a timber house, a concrete structure is tho better proposition for both the I occupier and the State.