HOUSING COSTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 135, 9 June 1937, Page 5

HOUSING COSTS

N.Z. AND ENGLAND

MR. LEE'S COMPARISONS

WAGES FACTOR

A comparison between the costs and rentals of English and New Zealand housing schemes was the subject of a statement by the Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance (the Hon. J. A. Lee) last night. He contended that when all factors were taken into consideration the figures for dwellings being erected in the Dominion; compared favourably with those for housing schemes in Great Britain. "Comparisons between the New Zealand housing scheme and British schemes, while interesting, are decidedly misleading," said Mr. Lee. "Where all the factors are taken into consideration New Zealand fares not so badly. I have been examining the rentals of various houses and the size of various houses under British schemes to see what sort of house is available at £390. The low rents in Great Britain are made possible by subsidies from the Consolidated Fund, which have the effect of reducing the net interest rate, to a little in excess of 1 per cent, the 3 per cent, and H per cent, or 35 per cent, at which the money is raised being guaranteed from the public revenues. Actually the interest charged in New Zealand is so low that our houses on the average compare more than favourably with similar houses in Great Britain when the amount of wages paid to the worker in Great Britain as against Now Zealand is taken into consideration." LONDON FLATS AND HOUSES. Mr. Lee said the Downham scheme, London, had the following rental basis: Two-roomed fiats, from l*s 4d to 12s 4d; three-roomed flats, from%os lOd to 12s 9d; three-roomed cottages, from 12s 4d to 15s sd. "This last is the type of two-house units which we will make available in New Zealand for 17s 6d, which comparison certainly favours us, having regard to the fact that our wage scale is between 60 per cent, and 75 per cent, above the British wage scale," said Mr. Lee. "The four-roomed flat in the Downham scheme is available at from 12s 9d to 14s sd. parlour cottage from 15s 2d to 18s sd. Our parlour cottage would have additional floor space that would make up the rental difference, so that actually the Downham scheme is not superior. Four-roomed non-parlour cottages are available at from 13s 9d to 17s Id. "Here, again, wage for wage, the comparison is favourable to New Zealand. The five-roomed cottages run from 16s Id to £1 per week. Since the flat accommodation is built in huge barracks and is a repetition of the same design a large number of times, our rents are as good, value for value. Notwithstanding that State subsidies keep the interest basic chargeable to the tenant very little in excess of 1 per cent, the rents work'out at 29, per cent, of the Usual unskilled worker's wage." The China Walk, Lambeth, scheme rents were: Two-roomed flats, from 7s lOd to 12s Id; three-roomed flats, from 10s 3d to 14s 8d; four-roomed flats, from 12s 7d to 17s 4d; five-roomed flats, from 15s to 19s. These dwellings were in blocks, four and five storey's high, absolutely unsuitable to New Zealand, where they would be accounted slums. None of these houses were of the cottage, but all were of the barrack, type. The rental was 25; per cent, of the usual unskilled worker's wage. New Zealand would object to the erection' of the China Walk type of house. EVERY HOUSE A BARRACK. At the New Quay house block, erected in Kennington in 1932, the three-roomed rent worked out at 14s 9d to 18s 2d, so that the two-house unit in New Zealand was. actually cheaper, despite the higher cost of New Zealand labour. Four rooms were from 17s Bd, five rooms from 19s 4d to 20s Id. Every house was one of a barrack, wholly unsuitable to New Zealand. The rental rates were 33 per cent, of the usual unskilled wage. The Wilcove Place block was erected in 1935. Not a single house was of the cottage type; 82 per cent, of the dwellings were repeat units. The block-was four and five storeys high. The rents were: Two rooms, from 7s 7d to 9s 3d; three rooms, from 9s 6d to 13s 9d; four rooms, from 14s 6d to 17s 3d; five rooms, from 19s 6d to 20s 6d; or 22 per cent, of the usual unskilled wage. But not only were the houses of an undesirable barrack type, but many of the five-roomed flats did not exceed 786 ft, which was insufficient for a New Zealand home. The Magdalen Park scheme was built in 1934. Rents were: Three rooms, 15s 4d; four rooms, 18s. The average rent was 32 per cent, of the usual unskilled worker's wage. The footage area would be 691 ft for a three-roomed flat. Space for space and rent for rent, the New Zealand scheme was cheaper. The four rooms were 841 to 852 square feet. Judged by Magdalen Park, we were holding our own in New Zealand. Mr. Lee said the Chapman house scheme was erected in 1934. The rent of two rooms was 16s, and the ..two rooms were only 464 feet; three rooms, 17s 6d to 20s, and the three rooms were of a maximum of 643 feet. . The rents were 35 per cent, of the unskilled wage. Extraordinary though it might seem, our scheme in New Zealand, despite the 40-hour week and our wage costs, provided a house as against a barrack of better quality at a lower rent ' RENTALS AND WAGES. The Kent house scheme was erected in 1935, and the house was barrack type. The rents were: Two rooms, from 11s; three rooms, from 16s 6d; four rooms, from 225. It was interesting to appreciate that the Labour Government would have some four-roomed houses available at 22s 6d, houses, not flats of 735 feet, or repetition units in a barrack. Rentals represented 35 per cent, of the unskilled wage. Here again the comparison on a space, wage, and material cost basis was all in the favour of the New Zealand scheme. In Birmingham 41,000 houses had been built. The Weoley cottage scheme supplied three rooms for from 6s 5d to 9s; four rooms from 9s 2d to 11s 8d; five rooms, from 14s 3d to 16s 3d, or 27 per cent, of the Birmingham unskilled worker's wage. The house area did not exceed 808 feet and the standard unit was repeated indefinitely. Liverpool had built about 24,000 houses. The Dovecote, housing scheme of two-storeyed houses: rents were — 1 room, 4s; 2 rooms, 5s 9d; 3 rooms, 8s; 4 rooms, from 8s 6d to 14s 6d. The scheme was standardised, and the dimensions of the houses would not compare with our own. The scheme was one of the cheapest in Great Britain, and cost 22 per cent, of the unskilled worker's wage, but the conveniences in some instances served many houses. Speke Road Gardens had a fourroomed house available for 9s lid, but the maximum dimensions were 762 square feet. The houses were of barrack type running four and five storeys high with a very severe finish. "The wages being paid to workers in Britain bear no comparison with New Zealand rates," said Mr. Lee, "and our rents are proportionate to income,

generally lower. Bricks are about £2 . 10s per thousand, Portland cement about £1 19s per ton, and the same standardised house is produced monotonously. The New Zealand Government's housing scheme can bold its own in fair comparison. The i-dbu house is generally only two rooms in a barrack. The figures I have quoted are extracted from 'Housing, A European Survey by the Building Centre Committee,' published in 1936, and 1 have gone through the publication, taking every scheme seriatum. "FAIR COMPARISON." "What is the fair New Zealand comparison? Surely we are entitled to compare the Labour Government's with past Government schemes. Between 1926 and 1935 in New Zealand there were 20,401 building permits issued— 15,441 were issued to recipients of State Advances, who received about £14.000,000 worth of Government money. If we add the deposit and the cost of laying out the section to the average State Advance, it is reasonable to assume that the average cost was £1100. "Now let us see what the average conditions pertaining to the 15,441 houses erected by past Governments were as compared with the houses erected by us. I am loading the tenant's deposit and preparation of his section with the same interest loading that applies to the loan:—Repayment of interest and principal, £1100; at 6} per cent, £74 ss; rates, £12 3s; maintenance fas for a wooden house, the overwhelming majority were wood), 1£ per cent, on £900, £13 10s; insurance, £2 9s; total, £102 7s 6d. "The house was not of high quality, a very small percentage were on concrete foundations. The house did not contain th^: conveniences associated with our house. True, the tenant owned the house at the end of 30 years if he paid 14s 4d a week.more than we are charging. If the owner of the property had been letting the house he would have been compelled to add about Is in the £ to the rent for management and collection, and probably another Is for tenancy voids, which would have made his rent £2 Is 4d. Because of the high rent State Advances 'lost millions when wages were slashed. Our rent in 1937 ,for a better house is £1.55. "If a house with land costs' £700— and nobody could build a city house with land at a - cost of £7.00 today— under the system adopted between 1926 and 1932, that house would cost as much in rent as a Labour Government house at £1200. "We could build huge barracks in New Zealand and install community laundries, but this type of house would be foreign to our best interests. There is a field for activity in the building of multiple houses for elderly couples, but I think it would be undesirable for us to have more than four or five of these in each unit except that we want to create slum conditions. Good new housing of cottage type has' never been available at one day's pay. I cannot find a single scheme of high-grade housing anywhere that has been available at that figure. MANY APPLICATIONS. "For one day's pay from the whole community, .which is a different matter, housing, could .be provided. There will be no difficulty in securing tenants for the houses that the Labour Gov. ernment are building. We can secure 20 tenants for every house likely to be available this year. Applications are streaming in at a greater rate since th" announcement of our rents. "At the point at which we can overtake the housing shortage, a difficult date to prophesy, 75 per cent, of the i 330,000 existing dwellings in New Zealand should be available at 75 per cent, of our rent, having regard to the poorer type of houses and lower standard of conveniences, and since it would take 50 or 60 years, to rebuild any country with the highest-grade housing possible,, these hundreds of thousands of houses will: have to be lived in for a long-time to come, except those slum areas which we hope at a later date to demolish. I can find no record of any scheme in the world, except where the houses were created out of revenue and given rent free to the dwellers, where cottage housing has been supplied at less than the day's wages paid to the builder. Generally it is very much in excess of the day's wage with a lower standard of housing than ours,and despite the fact that the rate of interest charged on British schemes is practically little over 1 per cent. COMPARATIVE COSTS. > "Recent advice from England tells of a considerable advance in building costs due to re-armament, advances similar to those which have occurred here." The following comparative statement, of current costs in London and Wellington was supplied by Mr. Lee:— '. ' Wellington London price, price, ' . dolirered delivered Article and unit. city area, city area. „ £ s. d. £ s..d. Portland cement, per ton 1 19 o 54 G Bricks: 'First quality, Per 1000 4 11 0 6 2 6 Bricks: Second quality, per 1000 4 2 0 5 17 6 Bricks: Leeds 2 12 6 5 17 6 Flooring. Uln, 100 ft sup. (deal) .../..■ 1 2 0 218 6 Matchlinlng. %in, 100 ft sup. (deal) 0 14 0 1 13 G Rough boards, 100 ft sup. (deal) ' 0 18 0 1 8 6 Lead : .Milled, per cvrt. .246 2 16 0 White lead, per cwt. ..399 436 Linseed oil, gallon 0 3 0 0 5 3 Boiled oil, callon 0 3 6 0 5 16. Ready-mixed paint, gallon o 13 6 1 2 6 Reinforcing, per cwt — ■ %tn equals ...;..... 0 10 6 1 3 G >.iin equals 0 10 3 1 1 3 541n equals 0 10 0 10 0 Wanes. Present Standard • wages * union wage being payable in paid in . ■ London. Wellington. s. d. s. d. Carpenter, per hour .. 1 BV2 2 6,4 Bricklayer, per hour .. 1 SV2- 2 9 . (According to demand) Plumber, per hour 18V, 2 6 Painter, per hour 1 Hi 2 0 Labourer, per hour 1 3V& 2 OVi