Legislative Assembly

Ownership”. It is one of the prime conditions of existence; it gives better environ-

ment for the children and a happy family life, I think before we go too far into Low Rental Housing that we should face this problem by some other means. We have seen what has happened in some of the larger countries in Europe where we find that 70% of all the homes in London are Low Rental Housing. In Scotland 50% of all the homes that have been built there are Low Rental Housing and we go to Ecuador and we find that practically all the homes there are Low Rental Housing. I think that is what is happening in United States as well as Canada, people are accepting these homes and I don't think it is the right environment, so we must try and develop some new plan to take care of the situation. I want to suggest a plan that I have given some thought to, like industry, like tourist accommodation and all the other phases of government. Unless government takes a hand in it, private industry will not go into these projects, and I think it is time the government should face this and provide necessary funds for the young married couples who would like to have a home for their family. When we look at the cost of Low Rental Housing, the costs are increasing each year. Last year in the Province of Ontario these units cost $17,000.00, and if you figure the cost of mortgage payments, of interest, of maintenance which runs to an average of $144.00 per month, the cost of insurance and the other carrying charges, it looks as though the rental on these Low Rental Houses will run to $140.00 per month. Now with wage scales such as in this prov- ince, most of these occupants will only be able to pay $40.00 per month. I notice from the scale that has been established in the Moncton area family income of $209.00, would pay $43.00 per month rent; an income of $230.00 would pay $50.00 a month rent and with our pay scale even lower than that, I can't see that the

majority of these people will be paying $40.00 as the limit. Now what does this mean? It means that governments are going to have to carry the load through subsidies, and in this case it would amount to $1,200 per year per unit. This can become quite costly. You realize if a program was developed in this province, that it would be very acceptable to many of the people who want to reside here and raise their families. The program that I have in mind would provide home owner- ship for the married couples, say without children, with an income of less than $3,000.00. This could be increased by $500.00, for each child up to a maximum of $5,000.00. The average across this country shows that fifty percent of the units required are three-bedroom units; thirty percent four-bedroom and twenty percent two-bedroom. These homes could possibly be constructed for a maximum of $10,000.00,

when we consider that many of these young people would do much of the finish work in the home to keep the cost down.

Now in order to implement a program like this the problem is the down payment, the lot, the foundation, and the rough flooring, and I think it would be a good program if the Government were to take the second mortgages on these houses. The banks are now loaning money on long-term mortgage loans for homes up to 75% on a 26 year basis, but it is the down payment that is the problem with the high cost of living for these young married couples. This could be carried on a second mortgage, and we could even go as far as taking care of the interest on these second mortgages to assist these young people. I don’t think there is any question about it that the Canada Assistant Plant could take care of the interest on the second mortgage and in that way there would be no cost to our province. This is a program that has not been tried in this country. We hear of conferences held all across Canada on housing to try to find out new ideas, but they all result in nothing new. I think a program like this, if it were started in this province, would guarantee a home for all the young people, and they would call it “home", and their children would call it “home". (Applause) I would suggest that the Govern- ment should look into a system like this, and this would provide homes in all the Municipalities in the province, not only Summerside and Charlottetown. But it would be available in Ttignish, Alberton, Morel], Souris, whereas the present plan of low-cost housing is not allowed in other than the larger centres. I think this pro- gram is worth developing, investigating, and while we are giving assistance to practically everything else and every phase of our endeavours, nothing is done to provide homes in the localities where our young people live.

There is another question too that we would build possibly 900 or 1,000 of these homes throughout the province and this will make other accommodations available for people who possibly may have gone past the age where they get

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