Plans for Some Houses
There is nothing in the White Paper on housing issued by the Government this week to allay public anxiety. The estimate of immediate post-war needs will be thought by many to be an under- statement—namely 750,000 dwellings to provide every family with a home, and in addition 500,000 others to take the place of over-crowded or condemned houses. How is this shortage of a million and a quarter of dwellings to be met? Of permanent houses the maximum that can be "built or building" within two years will be 300,000, but only 220,000 of these at most wilb be completed. We may look forward to 30,000 temporary houses from the United States, and the production of temporary dwellings will be continued to meet the allocation of 145,000 to local authorities. This offers a total of under 400,000. For the rest, we are only told that the Government intends to press forward with the manufacture of temporary houses to the fullest possible extent, and it is by no means clear how this is con- sistent with the recent statement that it was proposed to switch over to permanent production. The supplies of labour and materials will obviously be the governing factors, and labour will be increased by special releases from the forces and a scheme of adult training. The prospect, to say the least of it, is gloomy. Little is said about costs, but it is well to know that the Government intend to control the price of materials and fitments, and the amount of building and repair work done on private account. The utmost vigilance will be necessary to prevent profiteering and a big rise in building costs such as proved so serious after the last war.
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