§ 39. Mr. Craven-Ellisasked the Minister of Health the pre-war cost of building houses containing 18,000 cubic feet, where the erection was undertaken by local authorities and private enterprise, respectively.
§ Mr. E. BrownNo, Sir. Houses of this size are larger than those built by local 2246 authorities, and I have no information regarding the cost of such building by private enterprise.
§ Mr. Craven-EllisWould my right hon. Friend be surprised if I told him that the cost of local authorities' houses is 2d. per cubic foot higher than that of private enterprise houses?
§ Mr. BrownI should be very happy to receive any information on the subject either in general or in detail.
§ Mr. ShinwellHas my right hon. Friend detected any change on these matters among his hon. Friends behind him since the change in the military situation?
§ Mr. BrownThere is a field of operation, as my hon. Friend knows, for private enterprise and a field for local authorities.
§ Mr. ThorneIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that the houses built by local authorities have fewer faults than those built by private enterprise?
§ Mr. BrownI should not agree with that. Everybody knows that there have been faulty houses built under both systems.
§ Mr. MarshallIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that from 1920 onwards private enterprise found it impossible to build at the required price, and had to have a subsidy from the local authorities?
§ Mr. BrownI have already pointed out that we welcome private enterprise in housing. Between the two wars we had the big boom, and private enterprise was able to build 3,000,000 out of the 4,000,000 houses which were built.
§ 40. Mr. Craven-Ellisasked the Minister of Health the period over which local authorities built 1,000,000 houses after the last war, and the period over which the 3,000,000 were built by private enterprise?
§ Mr. E. BrownThe periods were approximately 19 years and 21 years respectively.
§ Mr. Craven-EllisIs my right hon. Friend aware that local authorities did not build low-rented houses although they had subsidies, and that it was not until the Housing Act, 1933, was passed, and subsidies were terminated, that private enterprise built low-rented houses, without any subsidy?
§ Mr. BrownMy hon. Friend is now agreeing with the answer which I gave him originally. Nevertheless, there was a very definite and specific field for local authorities, perhaps mostly in slum clearance and the prevention of overcrowding.
§ Mr. McEnteeHas the right hon. Gentleman any figures which would enable us to say what were the rents charged for similar houses built by local authorities and by private enterprise?