Evening star., 1924-07-06
HOLLAND REDUCES
HOUSING SHORTAGE
Laws in Crisis Speed Up
Building and Make Loans
Easy to Obtain.
250,Co0 HOMES RAISED
Rent Boosts Fought by Limit of
Levy to Proportion of
Tenants Income.
BY GEORGE r. wITTE.

Correspondence of The Star and Chicago Daily
News.
AMSTERDAM, Holland, June 10
More than 25o,ooO new houses have
been built in Holland since 1915ewhen
the government, the municipalities
and civilian associations became
alarmed over the hodsing shortage
and decided on drastic measures to
combat 1t in all seriousness
DR.. d. Hudig, director of the Hous-
ing and Town Planning Institute of
Holland, outlined to me the work
accomplished by the authorities and
private organizations in this direc-
tion.
I'm 1901, or long before the world
war, we had housing act that was
almost the same as the English hous-
ing law" began DR. Hudig. The
government co-operated with the
municipalities and the public utility
societies in erecting new buildings by
extending loans to the societies for
tried to improve housing conditions
ny rdzlng whole districts of question
apie character. Up to the outbreak
OF the war 12,91S buildings had been
When in the early months Of the war
the influx of refugees and other for
eigners began we realized that we
could no longer afford to tear down
to double our efforts to finding quar-
ters for those without proper homes.
In 1915 We really began.
Well Organized for Work.
The number of public utility So
cieties, which on January 1, 1915, was
391, grew rapidly and steadily Now
we have 1.400 of these societies in
Holland, although there are only LILO
communities: These societies are of
a seml-publlc character. They must
be authorized by the government and
receive their charters only after
careful consideration on the part of
the the, authorities They are organized
dends on their shares were limited
to per cent until 1921. and to
per cent since then. Capital and
surplus profits must be applied to the
Improvement of housing conditions,
but the members are not given the
right to purchase the houses they
live in.
In addition to these societies there
are health committees in all towns of
more than 10000 population. These
committees must be consulted by the
local authorities whenever measures
IN housing matters are to be taken.
The members of the health commit
tees are prominent local citizens, in
Guiding building and medical experts,
who do their work free of charge.
The committees form part of the
state sanitary inspection.
'In 1915 the housing situation be-
came very serious. AS in England,
rents here went up enormously and
the cost of building material was al
most out of sight. For instance, in
Amsterdam, where before the war
one could build. workingman,s
three to five rooms for $1,000, inside
of eighteen months the cost for such
a house went up to $4,000. Even now
the cost is so per cent above pre-war
prices So, first of all. the govern
ment prolonged the period for loans
from fifty to seventy-five years. then,
instead of granting loans after con-
sidering each case. it supplied the
necessary capital in lump sums.
Government Advances Millions.
Two years later another housing
emergency act was passed, which
fixed the rents at from one-sixth to
one-seventh Of the tenants income
and denied the landlord the right to
eject tenants without having first
submitted the case to the proper au-
thoritieS. The state also announced
1t would take over Is per cent of the
deficit of the public utility societies,
leaving only 25 per cent to the mu-
inequalities. Therefore this deficit
had been equally divided. In addition
the government was vested with the
power to force any municipality to
carry out it's share of the. national
building program.
Even when the war was over we
did not relax our building activities |
Instead we speeded them up. Between
1915 and January l, 1921, 129,041 new
houses were built in this country; in !
1921, 10000, and in 1922 and 1923, 49, |
600 each year.
More than 1000, 200, 600 guilders "a |
guilder is equivalent to 40.2 cents) |
have been advanced by the govern
ment in building loans in the last
ten years. Now the government thinks
the time has come for the private |