Waikato Times

Housing — times haven’t changed

- DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Richard Swainson

Housing is a prime political issue of the age, arguably one the current administra­tion has failed to rise to the challenge of.

In Hamilton, in 1920, it was much the same. The Waikato Times described the post war ‘‘housing problem’’ as having reached a ‘‘highly acute stage’’.

Families were living in garages and sheds. The issue was as much availabili­ty as poverty. A woman with a family, waiting to occupy a property she had purchased for a sum in excess of one thousand pounds, was forced to do in a windowless shed. One five room dwelling accommodat­ed 19 people.

The political response was as today. The Minister for Internal Affairs was quoted as saying that ‘‘it is unfortunat­ely true that the housing difficulty is great in Hamilton, but it is also in many parts of the Dominion and the remedy by constructi­on of new dwellings cannot be applied at once to the extent required’’.

Exactly a month later the Reform government announced its new housing scheme. Persons earning under 300 pounds a year, with an extra 20 pounds provision per head in the case of parents with more than two dependent child under 16 years, were eligible for a mortgage.

A one pound initial deposit was required, then a further 9 pounds once constructi­on on the house had commenced.

The maximum amount permitted to be borrowed was 850 pounds.

The repayment rate, inclusive of interest, fire insurance and rates, was just over 1 pound, 1 shilling per week, reducible to 1 pound if paid promptly.

The Government was to purchase blocks of land for the express purpose of the new buildings or utilise existing crown land. Bulk purchasing of materials promised additional economies of scale.

The Waikato Times expressed astonishme­nt that more Hamiltonia­ns had not taken advantage of the scheme. It is probable that many did thereafter.

Six years later, in 1926, when Prime Minister Gordon Coates sought the co-operation of local bodies in another housing initiative, Mayor J. R. Fow declared ‘‘houses are plentiful in Hamilton just now’’ and declined to send borough council representa­tives to a national housing convention in Wellington.

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