jan 15, 1953 - Prefabricated State Houses - starts
Description:
At this time there was a serious housing shortage in New Zealand. Many people were living in transit camps while on the waiting list for a state house.
In an attempt to solve this problem, the government commissioned 1,000 prefabricated state houses to be built, 500 in Auckland and 500 in Wellington (Titahi Bay). The houses were commissioned from Thermal Insulation Limited in England and Thermobau Fertighäuser of Vienna, Austria. The houses in Auckland were constructed by the English company and the Titahi Bay houses were constructed by the Austrian company.
The first prefabricated houses arrived in January 1953. A total of 194 tradesmen came from Austria in the 1950s on 18 month contracts to complete the houses in Titahi Bay. Many of these tradesmen remained in the area after their contracts ended.
These houses were anticipated to have a useful life of 20 years, though as at 2017, many remained part of the state housing stock.
Source: https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/about-msd/history/social-assistance-chronology-programme-history.html
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