Goodbye to the Housing Programme
When, at the end of January, the Minister of Health belatedly pro- duced the first post-war housing programme he gave great promin- ence to the fact that it could easily go wrong if supplies of soft-woods did not improve. The programme has gone wrong. The total number of houses completed in the first three months of 1947 was little more than the required average for one month under the pro- gramme. And the main reason for the failure certainly was the shortage of soft-woods. Other reasons were the weather, the low productivity of building labour, and general confusion in the organ- isation of housing. There is no sense in crying over spilt milk. The attempt to meet the demand for housing must now begin all over again. Some action has already been taken about soft-woods. The full seriousness of the shortage was realised some weeks ago and desperate efforts are being made to secure supplies in regions as far apart as Chile and Russia. But of course the worst source of trouble is at home. If we could only increase our exports—and of coal in particular—we could command useful supplies from Scandinavia. As to the other factors the weather goes its own way and nothing can be done about it ; building labour also goes its own way—a very slow and old-fashioned way—and a great deal could be done about that in a short time if only the disastrous resistance to payment by results could be overcome ; and organisation goes Mr. Bevan's way, which means that local authorities, who have never built houses quickly, get all the halfpence, and private builders, who once built them at the rate of 300,000 a year, get all the kicks.
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