In introducing this Housing Bill in its Second Stage in the Seanad it is necessary to review briefly the present housing position of the country and the circumstances which form the basis of the proposals contained in the Bill. In all we have about 600,000 inhabited dwellings, of which some 26,000 were provided during the last decade under various schemes of State-aid through the agency of local authorities, public utility societies and private persons. The 26,000 houses were provided as follows by the agencies referred to:— Local authorities, 9,100; public utility societies, 1,500; and private persons, 15,400. 13,700 of the houses are situate in urban areas and 12,300 in rural areas. It is estimated that more than 60,000 additional houses are required to meet present needs, including the replacement of existing insanitary dwellings. In connection with the provision of these 26,000 houses, State grants amounting to about 2½ million pounds were made, but no improvement was effected in the housing condition of persons living in slum areas or of the very poor classes in the agricultural community. Of the houses built by private persons, about 5,000 are situate in urban areas and 10,000 in rural areas.
The objects of the present Bill are to enable the clearance of slum areas and the provision of houses for the needy classes in urban areas through the agency of local authorities and public utility societies, the provision of houses for the lowest-paid workers in rural areas through the agency of rural local authorities, the encouragement of building by private persons and public utility societies in urban areas to a greater extent than heretofore, and the subsidisation of building by private persons and public utility societies in rural areas so as to enable, so far as possible, all classes of the rural community to provide themselves with comfortable homes.
The housing problem is mainly a financial problem. In the urban areas where in normal circumstances houses are rented rather than owned by the tenants, the prospective tenant is now unable to pay the economic rent at which houses can be provided by normal agencies of supply, and in rural areas where ownership is more general, building costs are too high to enable persons to provide houses for themselves. In the present Bill, grants and subsidies are proposed with the object of meeting the circumstances of the various cases, and special consideration is given to those classes not catered for by the housing activities of the last administration.
It is estimated that it will take almost ten years to provide the total housing needs and to bring about a position in which normal activity to provide for replacements will prevent the recurrence of the housing problem. It is the intention of the Government to proceed on the lines of the present Bill to deal with the slums and housing problems as economically as possible and yet as generously as is necessary to enable these problems to be solved by a continuous programme of house-building and slum demolition at the greatest rate of progress which it is possible to attain. The financial provisions of the present Bill are framed to cover the first three years of the programme, in which it is expected to secure the provision of over one-fourth of the total need, involving considerable slums clearance. Further financial proposals to deal with the balance of the programme will be framed in the light of the experience gained in the operation of the present Bill. The financial provisions of the present Bill in regard to local authorities' schemes are sufficiently generous to enable them to deal with the most needy cases at the outset, and in administration steps will be taken to secure that local authorities will exercise the greatest care in the fixing of rents and selection of tenants, and the tenants will be selected with strict regard to income of family, size of family, and nature of existing accommodation.
Provision is included in Section 22 of the Bill for shortening the existing procedure in connection with slum-clearance schemes and the compulsory acquisition of land by local authorities, and the financial provisions of the Bill are framed so as to enable these bodies to undertake at once comprehensive slum clearance schemes and to re-house the persons displaced without putting an undue charge on the rates. Under Section 6 of the Bill the State is authorised to pay up to two-thirds of the annual charges on loans borrowed by local authorities for this purpose and this contribution will enable a house costing £300, for which the economic weekly rent inclusive of rates would be about 10/-, to be let at a weekly rent of, say, 3/-, inclusive of rates, without a greater loss to the local authority than £5 per annum. In the larger areas, where costs will be higher, a £400 house, of which the economic inclusive weekly rent would be about 14/-, could be let at an inclusive weekly rent of, say, 5/-, with an annual loss to the local authority of about £6. This maximum contribution of two-thirds of the loan charges will be paid so long as the houses are let to the most needy applicants and the rents charged are not unnecessarily low in any cases. It is realised that there are persons, particularly living in slum areas, who will be unable to pay even these very low rents, and provision is made by Section 5 (i) (j) of the Bill for the payment of grants up to 60 per cent. of the cost for the acquisition and renovation of existing houses in which to house these people. The existing houses when renovated are to be managed by philanthropic societies or similar bodies of persons and the grants will enable the provision of good sanitary accommodation at inclusive rents averaging between 2/6 and 3/- weekly.
Provision is also made in the Bill under Section 6 for the payment of annual contributions to urban local authorities in connection with housing schemes for the accommodation of persons not displaced from insanitary houses but at present living in overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable houses and unable to pay anything approaching an economic rent. For this purpose the annual contribution may be up to one-third of the annual loan charges and will enable, in the smaller areas, a house costing £350, of which the economic inclusive weekly rent would be about 11/6, to be let at an inclusive rent of say 7/6, with a loss of about £3 per annum to the local authority and, in the larger areas, a house costing £450, of which the economic inclusive weekly rent would be about 16/-, to be let at an inclusive weekly rent of about 10/-, with a loss of about £5 10/- per annum to the local authority.
In order to encourage the formation of public utility societies to act as a subsidiary of the local authority in the provision of houses in urban areas for letting to the latter classes, provision is made in Sections 5 (1) and 8 of the Bill to empower local authorities to join with the State in making a combined grant of one-third of the cost of houses subject to a maximum combined grant of £150 per house to be borne £100 by the State and £50 by the local authority on the condition that houses so provided will be let on monthly or lesser tenancies, and that the floor area of the house will not exceed 750 sq. ft., the area of the average ordinary working-class house. It will be greatly to the advantage of local authorities to encourage the formation of these public utility societies so as to relieve themselves to some extent of the burden of housing and to leave themselves free to concentrate on slum clearance.
Provision is also made in Section 6 of the Bill to enable rural local authorities operating under the Labourers Acts to provide cottages and plots for agricultural labourers. Under this provision the State would pay up to 60 per cent. of the annual charges on the loans borrowed by the local authorities for the purpose and this contribution would enable the letting of labourers' cottages at inclusive rents averaging 2/- weekly without imposing undue charges on the local rates and, so that the charge to the rates may be more evenly divided over the general body of ratepayers, it is proposed in Section 21 of the Bill to make the county health district the area of charge instead of, as at present, the rural district area. Section 19 of the Bill shortens considerably the existing procedure under the Labourers Acts in connection with the acquisition of sites and the provision of cottages and, under the section in question, rural local authorities will now be able to proceed with schemes with the same expedition as is possible in urban areas.
Power is given in the Bill under Section 6 (4) to fix the maximum costs of houses for the purpose of the payment of subsidy, and subsidy will not be paid on any amounts in excess of the prescribed costs. This provision is necessary in view of the rate of progress which it is expected will be reached and the tendency to increase prices which may result from such rate of progress.
With the foregoing financial provisions for urban and rural local authorities it will now be possible, for the first time since the war, for these bodies to provide houses for persons living in slums and for really needy classes at the rents which these persons can afford to pay, and the solution of the problem so far as these persons are concerned will now be only a question of the shortest time it will take to provide the houses. Under sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 6 of the Bill it is provided that these subsidies will be available in respect of all houses commenced after 1st April, 1931 for which grants have not been made under previous Acts and this provision will cover all outstanding schemes of local authorities.
I will turn now to the financial provisions of the Bill so far as private persons and public utility societies, other than those building for letting in urban areas, are concerned. As previously stated, some 15,000 houses were provided in the past ten years by private persons and of these 5,000 were in urban areas and 10,000 in rural areas. It is obvious, therefore, that greater financial assistance is necessary to encourage more rapid progress in the urban areas and provision to this end is made in the Bill.
Under Section 5 (1) (b) power is given for the payment to persons and public utility societies erecting houses in urban areas of grants not exceeding £70 for houses completed before the 1st of June next; £60 for houses completed by the 1st April, 1934, and £50 for houses completed in the next succeeding year. The object of grading the grants in this way is to secure the greatest possible expedition in the provision of the houses.
With the aid of these grants a person having little capital will be in a position, with a loan under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts, to provide a house for himself. A house costing, say, £500 could be built on a leased site and the loan charges and other outgoings would not exceed more than about £1 per week at the highest point. These grants will also be available to speculative builders and public utility societies for the provision of houses which, when provided, could be rented or, if desired, purchased by intending residents with the aid of loans under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts.
In rural areas the principle of a flat rate grant for private persons has been departed from so as to make special provision for those classes who have been unable to build houses with the grants hitherto made available. An examination of the position, so far as the activities of private persons in rural areas under former schemes are concerned, show that substantial progress was made with the aid of these grants—over 10,000 houses having been provided—but the grants were not sufficient to enable small farmers and agricultural labourers to provide their housing needs. It is proposed, therefore, to continue the grants for private persons in rural areas at the rate of £45 (Section 5 (1) (e) ) per house and to make special provision for small farmers and agricultural labourers. For the latter class, and for small farmers not exceeding £15 valuation, grants of £70 (Section 5 (1) (e), (i) and (d) ) per house will be paid, and for farmers whose valuation exceeds £15, but does not exceed £25, grants of £60 (Section 5 (1) (c) (ii) ) per house will be paid.
This scheme of differentiation applies, as stated, to rural areas. It would be applied also to urban areas if a sound basis of application could be found, but the circumstances in the two areas vary so widely that this has been found impossible. It is seen, however, that the really needy classes in both areas will receive equal treatment and, at the same time, the larger grants shown by the operation of previous schemes to be necessary to encourage building to a greater extent in urban areas are made available.
Provision is also included to enable the payment of grants to small farmers not exceeding £25 valuation and agricultural labourers for the reconstruction of houses in rural areas in their occupation and for this purpose a grant not exceeding £40 per house is made available in Section 5 (1) (h) of the Bill.
In order to encourage the formation of public utility societies in rural areas for the special purposes of encouraging, advising and assisting small farmers and agricultural labourers in the erection of houses, it is provided in Section 5 (1) (f) and (g) that the grants of £70 and £60 payable to such persons will be increased to £80 and £70 respectively for houses erected through the medium of such societies.
All these grants for private persons and public utility societies will apply to houses the erection or reconstruction of which was begun after the 12th May, 1932, but to meet the cases of houses begun before that date and houses commenced under the Housing Acts, 1929-1930 but not completed in time to qualify for grants under those Acts provision is made in Section 5 (1) (a) of the Bill for the payment of grants of £45 per house in respect of such houses in urban or rural areas provided they are completed on or before 31st December next.
Under Section 9 of the Bill provision is made for the remission of rates on houses erected by persons and public utility societies with the aid of grants. For the houses begun under the 1929-1930 Acts and not completed in time, but which will qualify for grants under the Bill, the 19 years' rates remission on the sliding scale provided under the Acts of 1929-1930 will be granted; for the remaining houses rates remission of two-thirds of the rates for seven years is provided. Houses built by local authorities and houses built for letting in urban areas by public utility societies under the special provisions of the Bill before referred to will not be granted rates remission in view of the contribution towards such houses which the local authority will make in other forms; that is, either by way of loss in letting on houses provided by themselves or by grant to a public utility society building houses for letting in urban areas. In the case of houses reconstructed by persons in rural areas, the Bill provides that the valuation in force before reconstruction will remain unaltered for seven years after the reconstruction work is completed.
The miscellaneous provisions of the Bill deal with matters incidental to the carrying out of the housing programme contemplated under the financial provisions. Section 15 empowers the Minister to purchase, manufacture or promote the manufacture of building materials, while Section 16 empowers the Minister for Industry and Commerce to limit the prices of building materials or appliances. These powers will be used to whatever extent may prove necessary to ensure that the housing programme is carried out with the greatest possible expedition and is not hampered in any way.
Section 17 of the Bill gives power to the Minister to act in case of default by local authorities in carrying out schemes under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts and the Labourers Acts, and while the Minister expects that with the generous financial terms of the Bill local authorities will show a consciousness of the seriousness of the housing problem, steps will be taken under this section in any case where dilatoriness is displayed.
Under Section 20 of the Bill, local authorities acting under the Labourers Acts in rural areas are to be empowered to acquire land for the purpose of leasing or selling sites to persons or public utility societies for the erection of houses for agricultural labourers. Similar powers already exist for local authorities in urban areas.
One of the first steps to be taken by the Government in connection with the contemplated housing programme will be the establishment of a Housing Board to advise and assist the Minister in the exercise of his powers in relation to housing. Full advantage will be taken of this housing programme to develop native industries in building materials and appliances and it will be a condition attaching to the payment of State grants and contributions that materials and appliances of Saorstát manufacture will be used as far as possible. Lists of suitable materials and appliances shall be published from time to time.
It is unfortunate that the urgency of the slum and housing problems has made it necessary to launch this housing programme without awaiting the passage of Town Planning legislation, but it is hoped to follow the present measure with a Town Planning Bill as soon as possible. In the meantime, much must be left to the good sense and judgment of those building the houses and it is hoped that in the preparation of plans the fullest possible regard will be had to the desirability of providing open spaces and play-grounds and of securing that nothing inconsistent with the general principles of Town Planning will be done.