Page:Lectures on Housing.djvu/20

to pay the rent, or they must crowd into houses that are unsatisfactory or much too small, not because they are unable or unwilling to pay for better ones, but because there are none to be had. This shortage is particularly acute at present for various reasons. The first is the scare which arose at the time of the Finance Act. All the political bickering, in which one party tried to paint the possible consequences of the Act in the most lurid colours, while the other party tried to defend it, undoubtedly created a panic in the country. But then, other conditions have discouraged the building of small houses. In the first place, it has been difficult to get money at any price. Good securities, which were yielding 2¾ per cent., 10 or 12 years ago, can be bought so cheaply now that they yield 3¾ per cent., and gilt-edged securities can be obtained to pay 4 per cent. People have not been tempted to invest in house property, which is always an anxiety, when they had such good alternatives in absolutely liquid securities. Next, there has been a