G—lo

Experience has shown that the Maori people generally have responded in a praiseworthy manner, both in the care of their homes and the repayment of loan moneys. The housing-plan service has been developed in order to meet the needs of all classes of housing applicants, ranging from pensioners' cottages to large family homes for both town and country conditions. Older house designs are being reviewed and withdrawn and the specimen plans extended. As in the case of the Rotorua guest-house, which will be ready for occupation by about September, a close liaison is maintained with the Government Architect and his district officers in all major projects. Improvements in housing administration have recently been made in the following respects : (a) The introduction of the thirty-year table mortgage. (b) Provisions for meeting certain cases from the Special Housing Fund. (c) The introduction of State-owned rental housing for Maoris. (d) Expansion of the departmental plan service and withdrawal of all obsolete and substandard plans. Table Mortgage The introduction of the table mortgage, repayable over a period of up to thirty years, has brought Maori housing on to a footing more comparable with other State loan schemes and has enabled many Maoris who, hitherto, have been unable to afford the heavier payments required under the system of 1\ per cent, repayment per annum (which included principal repayments and interest) to raise loans to improve their housing-conditions. The. Special Housing Fund. —For some time this fund has been inoperative in certain cases, due to the difficulty of arriving at a satisfactory means of assessing the extent and nature of any relief which should be given. The previous basis, which provided for relief by way of labour subsidy, was unsatisfactory, as no provision was made for recovery of'the subsidy in the event of the applicant disposing of the property or in the event of an improvement in his financial circumstances. Briefly, the new basis for dealing with indigent cases is as follows : if the annual value of the payments which an applicant is capable of making will not repay the loan required in thirty years at 4|- per cent, per annum and meet his reasonable needs, the amount which the repayments will aggregate in thirty years will be ascertained and the balance treated as supplementary and interest-free. This interest-free portion is subject to review at any time, and, in the event of the mortgagor's circumstances changing, can become repayable and subject to interest charges at the discretion of the Board of Maori Affairs. Rental Housing Cabinet approval has been given for the provision of rental housing for Maoris out of funds provided by the State at the same rate of interest as moneys for normal State rental housing construction. Arrangements have already been made for the acquisition of some 60 houses throughout the Tamaki State Rental Housing Scheme for allocation to Maori tenants. It has been arranged, too, that certain houses to be erected at Orakei will be made available for Maori occupants. These arrangements have helped and will help considerably in relieving the very serious congestion in the Auckland City area. Houses are being erected at Waiwhetu by the Housing Construction Department for those people who were displaced when the land there was taken for housing, and it is understood that these homes are nearly ready for occupation.

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