4 août 1953 - National Housing Conference

Description:

In response to the housing shortage, the National Housing Conference was held at Parliament. Apart from the shortage of housing which had been exacerbated by the depression and the second world war, the cost of housing was of significant concern to the Government. Alongside this, people were demanding more amenities and family size was declining (average number of people per dwelling was falling). Delegates were issued with a statement of problems as the Government saw them and had submitted in writing their views on the agenda items which had been collated and circulated.
The agenda included:
• statement of Government policy;
• factors contributing to the high cost of houses and how these could be reduced;
• the reasons for large differences in costs in different towns;
• building a lower cost home of a good standard;
• securing uniformity and modernisation of the building by-laws and other regulations affecting house building;
• developing a house that can be added to, to meet the progressively growing needs of a family;
• methods of financing home building;
• encouraging the building of more houses by Local Authorities, building organisations and Government;
• provision of multi-storey flats by Local Authorities or private enterprise;
• examination of the Tenancy Act with a view to making better use of existing houses and encouraging the building of houses for rental;
• assisting those who wish to do their own home building;
• encouraging rural housing;
• building and price controls;
• overcoming the shortage of land for housing;
• reducing or spreading the land development costs with a view to reducing the burden on purchasers of sections;
• formation of an organisation to carry on the objects of the Conference; and
• the number of homes required and capable of being built in the future and who is capable of providing them.
The Government envisaged that a wide range of organisations would need to play a role in responding to the housing shortage (ie it was not just up to the Government to respond). The Government believed that private enterprise should be building houses for private people to own and that the basic objective was to build as many as possible. The Government recognised its role in providing specialised housing (for people on lower incomes and public servants).
The Conference debated the statement on Government policy and made 24 resolutions (for action by Government, the National Housing Council and other organisations). The Conference set the following housing targets:
• 17,000 in the current year;
• 18,000 over the next year; and
• 206,000 over the next ten years.

Source: https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/about-msd/history/social-assistance-chronology-programme-history.html

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