~‘

Védnesday, Jurie’.22,. 1966

“t= TERRACE “Omineca" HERALD, TERRACE: BRI

ferrace Needs Housing . . .

—by Ruth M. Hallock

me ~~ «CRobert “Bob”
wr! today’s society,

Hallsor Is one of the dedicated young men
but his dedication is ‘sometimes: hard-

meeressed to withstand the pressures brought about .by people
waving under adverse housing conditions, os

People and housing conditions are Bob Hallsor’s business.

e is Terrace’s public health inspector and he’s worried about

Lib-standard housing in. Ter-
ace, Unpleasantness and over-
mrowding which are obvious
Zepllow-ups to insufficient hous-.
arg, simply deepen the . fur-
ews in Bob Hallsor’s. brow, :
aTwo weeks ago Bob volunteered
m afternoon to.take'me on a four
Terrace, just. fo have a look at
me of the conditions under
hich familles are forced to live
meecause of our increasing housing
mortage. a .
OULD BE CONDEMNED
Seefany of the stops we made
meeompted him to shake his head in
memiat could only be termed despair.
fen You'll see a lot of houses like
meeis, which we should actually be
Sendemning, but we know full well
met if we do condemn these
meces, the people living in them
ve no’ place else to go," Bob
eeed. “With the housing shortage
me town, we just can’t be too
a We visited a lot of homes = we
geeatted with a lot of housewives
a we came to several conclusions,
a FINITE. NEED oO
y Terrace thas @ definite need. for
mproved housing, for mortgage
Boney with which to build new
omes, and for refital accommoda-
ion for families in the. ‘Yow in-
some” bracket. But Terrace -build-
Ng contractors and potential hous.

whe developers say the govern-.

Mentis “tight money” policy
mtrangles their plans at infancy,
dndividual families that have out-
prown their present homes, tell us
hey aré unable to obtain financing
for larger accommodation because
hey are already classed as “home.

pwners” and titus ineligible for

foans under the
Act.

National Housing
NHA PARADOX

This seems rather paradoxical

a

op

[RENT FOR THIS cast-off truck
quite so luxurious as indoor plumbing is included.

peOXy

because Canada’s: National Housing
Act is supposed to offer. facilities

designed to aid in the improvement

of housing .and Hving conditions,
It functions through Central Mort-
Sage. and Housing Corporation,
Which is ‘the federal housing ‘agen-
cy, Among the interests with which
CMHC: concerns itself are urban
growth and developnient, mortgage
lending; improved housing design
and construction and, most import-
ant, provision of accommodation to
meet the needs of “special groups"
Such as senior citizens, families of
low-income and university stud-
ents... :

After touring Terrace on a win-
dy Friday afternoon, I'm convine-
ed we have more than ‘our share of
these “special groups,” ‘All that
remains is for us to convince Cen-
tral Mortgage end Housing of the
need. . TT
RUPERT. SOLUTICN co

Prince Rupert isn’t having too
much difficulty in doing its con-
vincing. That city already has sev-
eral low rental housing units in
use and ‘they are. now looking for
a suitable site on which to build
another 100. Prince Rupert city of.
fielals told me in’ a telephone ine
terview that.the low rental: hous-
ing program in the coast city has
Braven very successful. The high-
est rent asked for a modern three
bedroom house is $90 per month.

in Terrace, three bedroom dwel-
lings are renting for as much as
$250 per month — if and when
you can find them. The average
two ‘bedroom dwelling rents for
about $150 per month and there
are one bedroom houses renting
at $100 mer month. There are one
room shacks renting for. $40 a

|month and sometimes more, de-

pending on whether they have a
bath or a path.

oes

wep
a

B ing list.

3

‘The City of Prince Rupert gup-
plies building sites for low rental
housing units and CMHC, together
with the government, handles fin-
ancing,

LONG WAITING LISTS

We could go-into detail regard-
ing the requisites in order to quali-
fy for.NHA building loans at the
single family level, but this infor-
mation ‘is readily available from
any Terrace real estate dealer, All
you have to dois ask. The requi-
sites for. project housing are the
details we're. really interested in
and they aren’t nearly-so clearly.
defined. At least-two Terrace busi-
nessmen, (I asked them), have had
flat turndowns in’ recent months
On proposed housing projects, The
Feasons given were nebulous but
the waiting lists ‘that ‘contain
names of families. wanting decent
fhomes are anything BUT nebulous,
They are as long 2s a logger’s
armal ae ‘
HOW DO YOU GET LOAN?

TISH COLUMBIA

TWO FAMILIES live
on the ground floor has suffi
“able. The celiar-dwellers

Among them is an attractive:

young mother of six. She and her.

husband :tuck the youngsters away

every night in a very crowded four *<
room house. The house is located ©

in one of Terrace’'s “residential”

areas, but it has no water supply - Beeeeel

and an old: fashioned privy graces
the backyard. This busy mother

has to carry water from a neigh--

bor's house, -

Looking wistfully into the after-
noon sun, she gaid, “If I just had
tunning water’ — Id feel like a

queen.” She told us that after.

Scraping up enough spare cash to
buy a building lot in Thornhill,
she and her husband haven't even
enough money left to buy cement
for foundations, Is it any wonder
she asked, “Just how does a per-

REMEMBER THESE? Well they still exist

one
eight that cannot find another

middie of Terrace, This

son get one of these NHA loans .

anyway?"..
RULE OF SILENCE =i
Another woman cried.as she told

us of her family of six crowded |

into a two, bedroom house. The

place needs paint and a new sep- - fam
tle tink; The old one ‘has overflow. &

ed onto the children’s small patch
of play area, |

Recently her landlord raised the
rent ta $75 a month. “Rising costs,”
he said. She didn't. complain, She’s
a wise ‘woman who knows it’s al-
most impossible to find another
Place to live in Terrace, If she
doesn’t keep her outraged feelings
to herself she might’ end up on
the ‘short end of that long wait-
NINE IN TWO .

Then there's the house on South

¢ Kalum that has all the discomforts

~ of pseudo-modern living. It has two ©

rooms, no water supply, no bath-

room, not even a front step. It,

also has nine people, all clamoring
for breathing space. Yet, Bob Hall-
Sor, our public health inspector,

} Says that by law, each person in a

eis

box is $20 a ronth,-Nothing

ROOF THAT AN NHA LOAN can change the whole face
things is this comparison, The photograph at left shows

esent housing for
ey'll. move into the new

a family. of five: In less than a' month
home at right. It has. three bed- .

dwelling place “shall have" 383
cubic feet of alr space,

LOTS OF LUCK!

_ Bob Hallsor is moving to Ques-
nel soon. He hopes the -situation
there will be easier - ;

fon

rooms, @ full basement, two fireplaces anda rumpus room. "|
and will cost the breadwinner approximately $122 a-month -
to repay. He and his family are some of the
There are many others less fortunate...

te
ced ss

in this smalf house. At least the family

cient light to make life bear-

not so fortunate,

— right in the
accommodates a family of
place to live.

A PLASTIC PIPE drains kitchen sink runoff onto the ground

underneath this house. It
fer nine people.

1 didn't want to discourage him
but I don't think he'll find: much
change. All of the north is suffer-
ing a housing shortage_ People are
ready for the north — but .the
north isn't, ready for-peaple. ,
URGENT INVITATION

After talking to some of those

ne

Mee

has two rooms and provides shelter

in Terrace who are strapped by
high rents and stymied financially
when they attempt to build their
own homes, I think I'll invite one.
Politician, one NHA man, and- one
OMHC man to accompany’ me the
next time I take a tour of the
town. Might throw in a Councillor
for good measure!

One afternoon would convince -
them there is a-need for more -
mortgage and development money.
In fact. it might only take 10 min-

‘| utes if they. talked to a busy, but’
‘| unhappy mother, with ‘tears in her

eyes,

lucky ones,