THE HOUSING SHORTAGE.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—It would appear that the two most serious problems that confront the nation to-day are unemployment and the shortage of houses. I believe that these two questions are closely allied, for if we could only start private building again on anything approaching to pre-War standards we should at once employ hundreds of thousands of those who are now existing on what is termed the " dole." The amount of Saving Certificates issued is well over £600,000,000, and are very largely held by the working classes. The suggestion I have to put forward is this : That every " worker " who is possessed of Saving Certificates or other Government security of the net value of £75 should have sufficient money advanced to him by the State to build a house for his own occupation, such advance to be repaid over a period of years, the rate of interest to be made as low as possible compatible with our national finances.
I believe if this offer were made to them there are many thousands of workers who would build their own homes, and that the loss to the State would be infinitesimal as compared with the recent Government Building Scheme under which cottages have been built at from £1,000 to £13,000 each (present value £400). The advantages of working men becoming their own landlords and paying their own rates, of finding work for hundreds of thousands of bricklayers and labourers, &c., in building their houses, are too obvious to need mentioning. To help those who are prepared to help them- selves would be a piece of real social reform, but to be of any real value the terms of the loan must be generous and widely advertised amongst the working classes, who should be able to obtain the necessary forms at the local post-office and to deposit their plans with the city or urban surveyor.—I am,
Previous page
