The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 28, 1919. THE HOUSING PROBLEM'

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 12, 28 July 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 28, 1919. THE HOUSING PROBLEM'

One thing necessary to the effective treatment of the local housing problem is a correct appreciation of its actual scope and nature. It is, of course, agreed that there is a more acute shortage of houses in Wellington than in any other part of the Dominion inhabited by a considerable population, and that this state of affairs entails serious hardships and gives rise to more or less extensive exploitation. There has riot yet, however, been any such orderly collection of facts as would make it possible to say just what measures are necessary and justified to 'relieve the situation. It is fairly obvious that a bold policy of housing reform is called for, but such a policy cannot be shaped with any confidencc until as the outeomo of a comprehensive survey the facts of the position have been set out much more clearly than they have been, up to the present. At the meeting of the City Council on Friday evening, at which it received and debated a report from its Housing Committee, plain evidence was supplied that the Council is not yet in a position to deal in a comprehensive way with housing questions. It had nothing more definite to proceed upon than a bald recommendation that an expenditure of £10,000 should be authorised upon the erection of seventeen houses at Maranui, and -that the Acting-City Engineer should be authorised "to create under his charge a separate department for the purpose of preparing plans, designs, ctc., and generally to deal with matters incidental to. the engineering and architectural side bf the housing question." It is possible to understand the objections of the councillors who found fault with a proposal in this form. The erection of seventeen houses is in itself very desirable, but the creation of a municipal department to deal with housing seems hardly ad- i visable until more definite plans are! formed and operations on a considerably bigger scalc are in view. Apart front the modest contribution the Council is able at the moment to make to. the relief of the housing shortage, its discussion ?s chiefly of importance as emphasising the need of dealing with the problem in an orderly and comprehensive way. The. Mayor in defending the Housing Committee's proposal, expressed the opinion that later on it would be neccssary to raise a loan, which he thought thould be guaranteed bv the Government, . and that this would require legislation. While it is possible to agree with Mr. Luke that there is no reason why the Council should not go ahead with the modest building programme recommended by the Committee, it is surely as reasonable to suggest that the creation of:a housing department might be deferred until the Council has formulated in some detail such a poli .:y as he very broadly outlined. Whatever shape the policy may take eventually, . good preliminary planning of' ail its details is undoubtedly essential. Not only must the Council obtain extended powers ,and some assurance of assistance from the Government before it can frame such a policy with any confidence, but it ought before setting up a special department to form a fairly definite idea of the scale on which it intends to operate and of the broad lines on which its activities are to procccd. In shaping its policy the Council ought alfo, of course, to take full account, of what is being done by the Labour Department in the erection of workers' dwellings. Facts brought out ir. connection with the State erection of workers' dwellings throw as definite light fis is obtainable at the moment upon the housing pesition in Wellington' and elsewhere, and some of these facts aie at an immediate view surprising. Itccognising that' the housing shortago is more acute in Wellington than in other parts of the Dominion, the Labour Department has arranged to build here seventy-five of the two Hundred houses for which it is about to call tenders. These workers' dwellings touch as high standards of convenience and comfort as are consistent with moderate tost, and applicants arc enabled to buy them on the easiest possible term". The periodical payments .'nicn.'.nt to a moderate rent, and do not exceed what some people arc said to be paying in/ Wellington for the use of a room' or two. Since application for a house on these terms is open to all pcrsoiis earning „ot more than

::2.v a year, and in view of the exceedingly unsatisfactory housing conditions in some parts of Wellington which were brought to light at the time of the influenza epidemic, and more recently at a meeting of the Charitable Aid Committee, it might be expected that there would bo an almost indefinite demand locally for workers' dwellings. In actual fact when the Labour Department recently invited applications, only about 100 were sent in by Wellington people There is here 1. distinct suggestion that such evils of bad housing :n she city as have lately been reported cannot bo wholly remedied even if good, though modest houses are made available on the most libei al terms that existing conditions will permit. This is an aspect of the question to which the City Council ought to give the fullest possible consideration in shaping a definite policy.

Another difficult aspccfc of the housing problem sfiuporns (lie peeds uf people who nr.; disqualificß by income from availing themselvfcs, as many of them undoubtedly would he giad to do, of she, benefits of the workers' dwellings scheme. A considerable increase ir,- the present income limit of £22,1 seems to be thoroughly justified in view of the present inflation of 1 wages and prices, and the result v?smld be

[ helpful. Many of those now debarred from applying for a worker's dwelling suffer heavily in the existing state ot affairs, and are as much entitled as lower-paid workers lo relief. The extension of the present limits of thi workers' dwellings scheme is a matter in which tlie Wellington municipality and others might very well cooperate with tlvj Government, but here again ordeily inquiry and consideration ought to precede action. The principal fact clearly established meantime, so far as Wellington is concerned, is that there is a greatunsatisfied demand for houses which private enterprise is obviously failing to meet and. seems unlikely to meet for a considerable time to come. It is, of course, not to be ignored that seme of the factors which limit- the construction of houses by private enterprise, in particular the high price of materials, make it very difficult for the State, or for the State and municipalities acting in combination, to provide houses at moderate cost. It is chiefly in the matter of obtaining land that public authorities enjoy a certain adtantage, and in this connection tho Citv Council ought to give ca-rncst and detailed consideration to tho possibility of making tramway extensions the means of forwarding a suburban housiag scheme on approved town-planning lines. The pressing urgency of the whole question makes it to much the more necessarv that the City > Council should examine it much moro thoroughly than it appears to have i?one thus far.