Housing Predictions
Mr. Aneurin Bevan's speech on housing on Wednesday in no way detracted from his reputation as a rhetorician, but it hardly satisfied the expectations aroused by the promises lavished in the course of the Government's election campaign. He gave no estimate of the houses to be built in the near future, but undertook to publish statistics of accomplishment monthly from next January onwards: His defence of the failure of the Government to implement its undertaking to create a separate Ministry of Housing was effective, but the decision to concentrate on new housing in rural districts and disregard reconditioning for the moment is of very doubtful wisdom. The Minister announced drastic proposals for the acquisi- tion of land by local authorities in case of need, but the need is likely in fact to be confined to certain districts ; taking the country as a whole the local authorities have already enough land available t9 account for at least two years' needs. Generally speaking, the Government's policy is to work primarily through the local authori- ties, which will get houses built under contract for letting, not for sale. It is evidently Mr. Bevan's hope that practically all available labour and materials—about the supply of both of which he clearly feels considerable anxiety—will be absorbed by local authorities' work, leaving little opportunity for the construction of houses for sale by the private builder. The demands of the lower-income groups must be satisfied first, and local authorities are to be encour- aged to frame schemes under which houses of different sizes will be well mixed up. An undeserved dig at the building societies was another sign of Mr. Bevan's preference for the public rather than the individual ownership of houses to be built. Altogether this was very much in the nature of an interim report, casting little light on the probability of more houses being built under Mr. Bevan than would have been built under Mr. Willink.
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