STATE HOUSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1943, Page 3

STATE HOUSES

CONSTRUCTION SCHEME TO FULLY OPERATE IN NEAR FUTURE. POSITION IN WELLINGTON AND HUTT. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. State housing developments in Wellington city and the Hutt Valley were discussed by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, in an interview last evening. He said the programme of construction which had been held up during recent months would, it was hoped, be brought into full operation in the near future. Every effort would be made to organise the scheme in such a way that the greatest possible number of housing units would be completed expeditiously. “Since the inception of the State housing scheme, 2639 houses have been completed and occupied by tenants,” said Mr Fraser. “There are 457 houses in various stages of completion, progress having been delayed due to the need for transferring workmen to defence jobs. “There are 7396 unsatisfied applications for houses, of which 189 are from servicemen returned from the present war for whom it has been agreed that 25 per cent of houses becoming available will be specially reserved. Already 118 ex-servicemen have been allotted houses in Wellington city and suburbs or in the Hutt Valley. “The block of flats that is being erected in Dixon Street provides 116 units, but unfortunately the completion of this has also been delayed on account of defence work. It is anticipated that the demand for flat accommodation in the city will be heavy and the Housing Construction Department already has in view the erection of further blocks, one of which was recently announced, namely the section on the McLean Estate on Wellington Terrace. Applicants who have expressed a preference for flats already number approximately 600.”