The rate of interest at which money is being made available through the Local Loans Fund in the past and through the proposals now contained in this Bill may be regarded by some people as reasonable and fair in certain circumstances, but I am certain, from the knowledge I have of the rapid rise in the cost of building under local authorities on the contract system, that the present position is leading to chaos. That is why I am asking the Minister and the Minister for Local Government for certain figures regarding the cost of building houses in certain areas where I regard the cost as entirely prohibitive. In the long run, it falls back, as it is falling back now, on the people living in the slum dwellings, who are expecting, and entitled to expect, to be provided with houses at rents within their capacity to pay.
I contend that, when every possible facility is being given to the Department administratively, and when every encouragement is being given by the Government and by all sides of the House to the local authorities to go ahead and provide the houses urgently required, the position we are confronted with to-day in regard to the rents charged, no matter how much is coming from the Transition Development Fund or what the rate of interest is, obliges Deputies who have some responsibility to the local authority apart from the Government responsibility, to see that the cost of building, the cost of materials and the cost of money for the building of these houses is brought down to the lowest possible level, if houses are to be provided in the future at rents which could be regarded as reasonable and fair. In pre-war days, the average rent charged by local authorities for houses built for people living in condemned houses was, roughly, between one-eighth and one-ninth of the weekly income of the wage-earner who was lucky enough to get one of these houses. But to-day, even with the increased rates of wages to these people, the rents now charged in many towns in my constituency are very excessive. The rents now proposed to be charged — and I can quote the cases — represent one-third to a quarter of the wage-earner's weekly income. That is a serious position for the road worker living in town or village where the weekly rate does not exceed £3 5s. 0d. I do not want to go into details at the moment on this point, but would urge on the Minister for Finance, who has a particular responsibility to the Government for the financial side of the housing policy, to see that the present position is reviewed at the earliest possible date, so as to bring down the rates of interest charged under the terms of this Bill, and charged under previous legislation, to a much lower figure than the interest now charged through the Local Loans Fund to the local authorities for the erection of working-class houses.