I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. I have already outlined to the House the main objectives towards which the Government has agreed constructional housing policy should be directed. In association with financial and administrative policy, these objectives are, first, the eradication of the remaining blocks of unfit housing, in particular in the larger urban areas; second, the rehousing of persons displaced through clearance operations by re-development, as far as is practicable, of the cleared areas; third, the encouragement of persons whose accommodation is unsuited for their needs and who are not served by the local authority programme, to provide houses for themselves, either by purchase of previously occupied houses or by having new houses erected for themselves; and fourth, to activate expansion in the very essential work of maintaining and improving the existing stock of houses by reconstruction, repair and improvement, the provision of water and sewerage services and by conversion of houses which are too large by modern conventions for single families, into separate dwellings of adequate standards either for renting or for sale.
The provisions of the Bill are specifically designed towards the furtherance of the objectives I have enumerated. In framing these legislative proposals, the Government have borne in mind the degree of progress already achieved; we have appraised the extent of the problems which remain and propose measures directed to the solution of these problems.
My approach to policy on private housing is that our attention should in present circumstances be concentrated mainly on the needs of those in the lower income groups, including small farmers, who do not come within the scope of local authority rehousing programmes and who find that the commitment of providing housing for themselves is too great, even with the backing of current grants and loan facilities. I think it is prudent, even essential, that additional facilities be made available for these groups. Without a special effort by the State and by the local authorities, people of the standing I have mentioned will continue to live in unsuitable and perhaps unfit dwellings.
It was from such circumstances that the main housing problems arose in the past, and which were vigorously tackled over the years by private and public enterprise with the assistance made available by successive Housing Acts. The cost was enormous relative to national expenditure but the burden borne by ratepayers and taxpayers alike has produced and will continue to produce dividends immeasurable in the field of good health and good citizenship. On this precedent, I have no hesitation in asking the House to approve further measures directed to the marginal groups below those already served by substantial State and local assistance.
I propose that the State grant for a new house in an area where a public piped water-supply and sewerage scheme are not available be increased by £25. This increase would automatically be reckonable for an increased supplementary grant up to £25 payable by the housing authority concerned. In essence, the proposal involves additional grants of up to £50 for persons living in areas isolated from the amenities which, in the present day, we who enjoy them take for granted.
In association with this measure, the Bill provides that the existing grant for the installation of private water-supply and sewerage system be increased from £60 to £75, or to £50 for water-supply and £25 for sewerage system where these are separately provided. It is proposed also that the reconstruction grants at present available to farmers and agricultural labourers be increased by £20 at each point of the scale which at present is £80 for a house of three rooms, £100 for a house of four rooms and £120 for a house of five or more rooms.
The supplementary grants at present payable by housing authorities are related to the State grants for reconstruction work undertaken by farmers and agricultural labourers and the provision of water and sewerage facilities by a graduated scale of valuation in the case of farmers and of income in the case of other persons. The supplementary grants payable in respect of works which qualify for improving grants under the Housing (Gaeltacht) Acts are also graded according to income or valuation.
The proposal before the House is that these scales be replaced by a provision enabling housing authorities to pay supplementary grants of equal amount with the State grants for these works, depending on the cost of the works carried out. The proposal will also have the effect of raising the valuation limit for farmers qualifying for supplementary reconstruction grants from £35 to £50, the qualifying limit for the State grant.
It is my earnest contention that the participation by housing authorities in assisting persons who were willing to improve the standard and amenities of their houses or to conserve through their own efforts dwellings which would otherwise deteriorate into unfitness, is of importance at least as great as the direct housing operations carried out by the housing authorities themselves. I consider that those authorities who have refrained from or discontinued such participation by not paying supplementary grants might review the position. It will pay them to do so, even if looked on as a mere matter of commercial prudence.
Grants for repair and improvement works are mainly availed of in urban areas. The existing legislative provisions achieved a creditable measure of success in inducing a substantial volume of this type of work. Nevertheless, the procedure has not been wholly satisfactory, as Deputies who have been interested are aware. The amendments I propose are, firstly, to increase the rates of these grants by £20, as is provided for in respect of reconstruction grants and, secondly, to simplify the administration of the grants and to extend their scope.
It is proposed that eligibility for these grants should be tested not by the suitability of the house for occupation by persons of the working classes or by agricultural labourers but by the essential nature of the works proposed for the purpose of providing suitable housing accommodation.
I have arranged with the Minister for Finance that housing authorities may borrow from the Local Loans Fund for the purpose of making grants for repair and improvement works and housing authorities are being informed accordingly by circular letter.
Provision is also made in the financial part of the Bill enabling housing authorities to make loans for repair or improvement works, capital for which will be available from the Local Loans Fund. The loans will be available for works which are essential for providing suitable housing accommodation. The incentive of loans in addition to grants will, I suggest, encourage the house owner to carry out essential works on his property whether he resides in the house himself or maintains it as a letting investment. It will also facilitate owners or prospective owners to carry out major conversion works on larger houses so as to provide additional rented accommodation of good modern standards, from which they may obtain an appropriate return on their investments.
The Government has agreed to make capital available to housing authorities to enable them to make advances under the Small Dwellings (Acquisition) Acts to persons in the lower income groups purchasing previously occupied houses. Housing authorities will be notified of the scope of this offer in due course. The existing definition of market value for this purpose is a simple one—the amount which in the opinion of the housing authority the house would realise if sold in the open market. As Deputies are aware, the purchase price on this basis does not include stamp duty, legal fees and other costs incidental to the purchase of such houses. It is proposed to enable housing authorities to include all such costs for the purpose of calculating the amount of advance to be made, in the same manner as they may be included in the advance for a new house.
There are many previously occupied houses on offer, particularly in the urban areas, and the availability of capital under the Small Dwellings (Acquisition) Acts will induce people to purchase these houses rather than reside in unsuitable flats or rooms or purchase new houses the commitment for which might be beyond their means. Viewing this proposal in conjunction with the repair loans provisions, it will be seen that a person may obtain a small dwellings loan for the purchase of a previously occupied house and may also obtain a loan for the repair of that house if necessary. The proposals may encourage people living in rented houses to buy the houses from their landlords and carry out works of repair and improvement.
I have given much consideration to the weight of representations made from time to time about the present system of rates remission on new grant houses, in particular to the impact on the lower income groups of the payment of full rates after a period of seven years in which only one-third of the rates assessment is payable. I have decided to recommend to the House the replacement of this system for future houses by a graduated scale of payments over ten years, beginning with the payment of one-tenth of the rates in the first year and increasing by one-tenth each year. In this way, there will be no sudden jump in the annual outgoings on the house.
Before turning to other aspects of this Bill, I want to record appreciation of the efforts of those who organise genuine co-operative housing. I feel there is scope for a great extension of activity in this field, particularly in rural areas where people can contribute largely by their own labour to the provision of houses for themselves. I am satisfied from experience that the grants from the State and housing authorities payable under this Bill would, with a person's own labour contribution, enable the provision of new houses by co-operative housing groups with minimum personal cash contributions.
The Bill contains an important provision relating to the financing of rural housing provided by county councils. In county health districts, including villages and towns in which county councils build cottages under the Labourers Acts, an annual subsidy is payable to the housing authority at a rate up to 60 per cent. of the loan charges, subject to fixed capital cost limits. Payment of the subsidy is not directly dependent upon the demolition or the repair of the previous accommodation of the persons rehoused, nor is it confined to agricultural workers. The subsidy is available for the rehousing of members of the working classes in labourers' cottages in those towns, villages and suburban areas in which the county councils provide dwellings under the Labourers Acts.
Two rates of annual State subsidy at present apply to dwellings let by housing authorities in urban areas. The major rate, up to 66? per cent. of the loan charges, subject to fixed capital cost limits, is payable in respect of dwellings let to persons who had been living in overcrowded conditions or in dangerous or unfit accommodation which has collapsed or has been demolished, closed or made fit by order of the housing authority, or to persons in needy circumstances, who required housing on medical, compassionate or other similar grounds. The minor rate of contribution, up to 33? per cent. of the loan charges, is payable for other lettings.
It is proposed that this system of subsidy will in future apply to rural, as well as to urban, housing. Where, for instance, a statutory operation such as the relief of overcrowding or the demolition of an unfit house is involved in rehousing an agricultural labourer or a person of the working classes outside an urban area, the higher subsidy rate would be payable under this Bill. The lower rate of subsidy would apply where no positive action is taken towards eliminating bad housing conditions or the relief of overcrowding.
In order that county councils will have all the powers of urban housing authorities to deal with slum clearance it is proposed that they should be required to make by-laws relating to overcrowding in respect of houses intended or used for occupation by the working classes.
There are two other provisions in the Bill relating to subsidy, neither of which makes any change as far as the financial position of housing authorities is concerned. One of these proposes to compound the value of certain subsidies payable under enactments of half a century ago. The intention is to simplify the method of extinguishing these old loans and to obviate the necessity for numerous annual calculations and numerous minor payments. In effect, the outstanding balances of certain loans will be reduced by the compounded value of the subsidies and certain investment funds from which annual dividends contributed to the subsidies will be surrendered to the Exchequer.
The purpose of the other provision is to give statutory authority for certain interest subsidy payments being made in respect of borrowings in the period 1948 to 1953. This authority is sought at the instance of the Public Accounts Committee and does not affect the payments made to housing authorities.
It has been the practice to renew the currency of the Labourers Acts from time to time for specific periods. The ultimate intention is to merge the Labourers Acts in the Housing of the Working Classes Acts so as to form a single code. The present Bill, like various previous Bills, makes its own contribution to this ultimate merger. It also provides for continuance of the Labourers Acts until they are replaced or repealed. When the consolidation of these codes is completed, the new code will replace the complex collection of Housing Acts which we now have to deal with.
The amendments proposed in the Bill relating to slum clearance operations are put forward in the light of the experience gained by housing authorities, who have found the existing provisions insufficient in some respects.
It is proposed that owners of premises which are the subject of demolition orders should be required as soon as the house has been vacated, to secure it against further occupation. The purpose of the provision is to prevent a recurrence of past experience of housing authorities who, having taken steps to clear an unfit house, found that the house had been reoccupied, thus hindering enforcement of the demolition order. It is proposed also that a person who occupies or permits another person to occupy an unfit house which is the subject of a statutory notice requiring repairs to be carried out and has become vacant should be liable to prosecution and prescribed penalties.
It is proposed that where land to be acquired by a housing authority by means of a compulsory purchase order includes dwelling-houses which are unfit for human habitation and are incapable at a reasonable cost of being made fit, the compensation payable in respect of the unfit dwelling-houses, if the Minister confirms the order, shall be site value less the cost of clearance. The Minister would have power, if he were not satisfied that a particular dwelling-house were unfit for human habitation and incapable at reasonable cost of being made fit, to exclude the premises from the "unfit" category, but to confirm the acquisition so that the compensation would be related to the market value. It is proposed that "dwelling-house" should be defined as a building used wholly or principally for human habitation. This provision contains no new principle. It will have the effect of preserving the well-established principle that buildings which are unfit for human habitation should qualify for compensation at cleared site value.
Provision is made widening the power which a housing authority has to close any part of a house let for human habitation so as to bring within this power any part of a house used for human habitation, whether or not the occupation is a letting. It is necessary also to remove any doubt that service of a copy of a demolition order—not the original order—will be valid compliance with the existing statutory provisions.
Housing authorities have power to extinguish public right-of-ways and easements in certain circumstances. The power does not extend to the acquisition of lands which, for technical reasons, do not come within the definition of clearance areas or improvement areas. It is essential that the extended power be available to housing authorities and provision is made for this purpose.
I have now outlined the main principles and provisions of the Bill and I commend it for the consideration of the House.
