When John Ledbrook saw the news that council was to hold a ballot for the first blocks of land in the new Edward Street estate, he thought the scheme sounded a bit familiar.
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In the course of trying to find out more about his own house here in Forbes, he'd learned that it along with a group of others in the Camp Hill area were offered by ballot some 100 years ago.
He's collated some of the history of a government housing scheme that saw a dozen homes built on Camp Hill, which we reference here.
It seems there was demand for housing a century ago too, and the Minister for Housing of the Day, Mr D R Hall, promised that Forbes would be included in the towns to come under the Government Housing Bill.
The Forbes Advocate in 1919 reported on the call for tenders to take down the former gaol and stack the materials for re-use.
"We predict a big demand for any new houses that may be erected," the Advocate reported on October 24, 1919.
By December 1920, construction on 12 new cottages on the site opposite Forbes hospital was under way under the scheme.
"The houses are of an excellent type and are fitted with the latest conveniences," the Advocate reported.
"The houses consist of four large and airy rooms, with excellent ventilation, and they have been erected to suit the climate.
"The kitchen, pantry and bathroom are all under the roof of the main buildings, with the latest in cement washing tubs, copper, set in, and every possible convenience."
The homes were intended for "people of restricted means" and to be paid off in weekly or monthly installments, the advertising of February 11, 1921 explains.
But we can hope for a different outcome for this council land release, because initially the ballot was limited to those who earned less than 400 pounds a year and didn't get enough participants.
The original ballot was postponed, with only two participants, and by March 1921 the matter was up for discussion at a Forbes Shire Council meeting.
The council moved to write to the Minister for Housing asking that - pending the sale of the cottage - they be rented for less than one pound a week.
"Mr Hawkins said they were no doubt all aware there was a serious house shortage in the town. A number of people were looking for houses at the present time," the Advocate reported.
"For two years he had been unable to lease a house with a secured tenure."
Interestingly, the Advocate reported in 1921, the council had actually ordered several houses in the municipality be demolished but that hadn't been done.
"That was because the tenant cannot get other housing and we can't turn them into the streets," Mr McNamara told the council meeting.
On March 22 the Advocate reported a ballot was to be held at reduced price: with just a five per cent deposit required for the value of cottage and land, plus stamp duty.
Just four names were entered for the ballot reported on March 24, 1921, and "Mr Hall, an official prominently connected with the House Scheme, was in Forbes making inquiries into the reason for the lack of applications for the Forbes cottages".
"We understand that it is Mr Hall's intention to recommend the Government to lease the balance of the cottages," the Advocate reported.
The Advocate also understood that at least one and perhaps more of the applicants had then withdrawn from the scheme.
In November that year the Advocate reported four of the homes were still vacant, and Messrs Morgan and Barton had been instructed to sell them by private treaty.
