The Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1932 authorised the making of grants to the extent of £700,000 towards the erection or reconstruction of houses up to 1st April, 1935. The Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act, 1934 increased the amount to £1,400,000 and at the same time extended the date of completion to the 31st March, 1937. It has become necessary to introduce the present Bill because the moneys already made available have been exhausted and provision must be made to meet the grants to be made to private persons and public utility societies who erect or reconstruct houses before 1st April, 1937. The Bill now before you is intended to implement the Acts of 1932 and 1934 by making available a further sum of £700,000 for the payment of these grants. The Government's housing programme initiated by the Act of 1932, made provision for generous financial assistance to the three main house building agencies, local authorities, private persons and public utility societies. The activities of local authorities to meet the needs of their respective districts continue apace and it is expected that these needs will be met within the allotted period. The assistance given to private persons and public utility societies is intended as a help towards the solving of the general housing problem and as an offset to that of the local authorities who were faced with a very heavy housing programme.
The present Bill only deals with the provision of houses by private persons and public utility societies and I do not propose, therefore, to deal further with the activities of local authorities for which the parent Act of 1932 still provides financial aid. It suffices to say that the progress made is well up to expectations.
For the information of the House I shall detail the activities of private persons and public utility societies up to the 31st December, 1935. At that date, a sum of £303,898 had been paid in grants in respect of 5,344 new houses completed in urban areas; £434,818 in respect of 6,786 new houses completed in rural areas; and £176,354 in respect of 4,538 houses reconstructed by small farmers and agricultural labourers. Thus, within a period of three and a half years the satisfactory position has been reached wherein 12,130 new houses are completed and 4,538 existing houses reconstructed. In passing, I am happy to be able to record the erection of 16,308 houses by local authorities.
The erection of new houses in rural areas has, up to the present, commanded the greater proportion of grants made to private persons and public utility societies. This fact is not without significance. An examination of the position reveals that the counties where housing conditions were worst are those which have made most progress in the erection of new houses.
Under paragraph (i) of sub-section (c) of Section 5 of the 1932 Act, provision was made for the granting of financial aid towards the erection of houses by public utility societies in urban areas for letting at rents approved by the Minister. Public utility societies have been slow to avail themselves of these grants, and only four societies have in hands the erection of 160 houses, of which 36 have been completed. However, should any further houses be provided in this way before the 1st April, 1937, the grants at the existing rates will be paid. The provision of the parent Act enabling grants to be paid to local authorities and philanthropic societies for the renovation of existing tenements has not been made use of to the extent anticipated. Difficulties have been experienced in securing suitable properties at reasonable expense. Any schemes which have been formulated up to the present can only be regarded as experimental. The number of philanthropic societies which have undertaken such work is two, and the number of tenements renovated with State assistance 22. Present indications go to show that undertakings of this nature will in the main have to be promoted by local authorities themselves.
The remission of rates for a period of seven years granted by the 1932 Act continues. This provision is not set aside by Section 2 of the Bill now before the House. Section 2 of the present Bill is only inserted to meet the wishes of the Commissioner of Valuation. Section 10 (5) of the 1932 Act provided that the valuation of a hereditament or tenement of a house availing of the reconstruction provisions of the Act would not be increased for seven years after reconstruction. At the same time similar relief was, in practice, afforded under the Valuation (Ireland) Act, 1852 (Section 14) in respect of new farm buildings. Cases have arisen in which the Commissioner of Valuation has been obliged to afford double relief as in the case of a farmer who completed the reconstruction at the close of the exemption period previously given under the Valuation Act. It is clear that the intention was not to afford such dual relief.
Saorstát materials and appliances are being used increasingly in the erection and reconstruction of houses for which grants are being paid under the Acts. The payment of grants is conditional on the use of Saorstát materials as far as possible, and the failure to comply with this condition leads to a substantial reduction or in some cases to forfeiture of the entire grant. A list of Saorstát manufacturers of house-building materials and appliances has been compiled by the Department, and there is no longer any reasonable cause for failure on the part of builders to use Saorstát materials. The percentage of Saorstát materials used in house-building in 1932 was, it was estimated. 30 per cent. of the whole. This had increased in 1934 to 45 per cent., and to-day it is 53 per cent. approximately. When the further amount for private building to be provided by the present Bill is allocated, it is intended to review the question of making grants to private persons and public utility societies.