HOUSING SCHEME

Taranaki Central Press, 19 April 1937, Page 6

HOUSING SCHEME

BRISK ACTIVITY. Demand Will Be Met. Press Association—Copyright. Wellington, April 18. Activity on. the jStßle housing scheme i s brisk and extensive. The building of approximately 800 houses already in view with construction provided for under several con-t-raciLs in the four main centres, while tenders will be called this month for similar dwellings in secondary towns. The demand is such as to make it obvious to the authorities that as many more houses will have to be built in the cities alone before it can be said that the housing shortage is lets than acute. . The costs of the buildings so far, notwithstanding the all-round, indreases in wages .and prices, are working out at- rather less than £1 per square foot. Although no official statement has yet been made it is gathered-that the rent of a four-room-ed house will be about 25s a waek. Tin's, on a, comparative basis, will mean to the tenant a saving of at least Ils a week. Double-unit Houses. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Mr i. A. Lee, who is carrying out the administrative work on the Gov-rnment’s housing scheme, said in an interview that the Dunedin contract included aln experiment in the building of doubta-unjt houses und- k roof, blit so constructed as to appear externally as a single unit. In other words, two small houses Would thus be provided each with three rooms, but with a clear front and no visible dividing wall. This type of house would be tried out with a view to meeting ithe residential needs of -hildrese married people and elderly couples. Obviously the subsequent rental value of each small house' in the double unit would be -mU(Ch less than -the rent of a single unit dw<elling.

Diseasing prices, Mr Lee said that building cosita varied as betweun towns, this being one of the reasons why the initial prices of the different contracts had not . been disclosed. Reliable information in the hands of the Housing Department several months ago gave convincing evidence that building costs were less as a rule at‘ Christchurch and Dunedin than at Auckland and Wellington. In the south, however, particularly ait Dunedin, many of the basic materials were available at much lower ' cost than in other centres. Experience had shown that ithe cost of construction of houses in the Lower Hutt district Would work out at about 19s Bfi per square foot. The cheapest house would cost £550 and the most expensive type about £l3OO.

Scheme for Secondary Towns.

Without going into detail, Mr Lee made it clear that the- demand for State houses was such that construction would have to be extended, not only in the main cities, but also in secondary towns, it wa s bopod to oa.il tenders 1 this week for the build, leg’ of houses at Palmerston North and Wanganui! Land had been acquired in other places all over New Zealand and p!an s Would be in hand soon for ithe construction of. a group of houses at Hastings, where very suitable areas, bad been secured by the Government. It was already obvious that within a few month s; many more houses would have to be provided. Auckland for instance, would require at least an additional 200. Wellington’s need was no less great, while Christchurch and Dunedin also v'ould require many more than the numbers, for the building of which provision bad been made. No official information is yet available as to the rents to be charged for the houses now under construction, but it is certain that these will be much lower than the rentals for Similar houses built under the Stale Advances scheme. It has been pointed out that for a £l2OO house built with a loan at 4 1-8 per cent for 35 years, it costs the occupant £1 l(j s 9d a week. The rent of houses being constructed by th® SjtaAe Housing Department will not run to anything nice that sum, even allowing for the marked increase in building costs.