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92
This experience points to the fact that housing in Central London
cannot be made to pay because the value of the land for housing is
the lowest value and yet it has to be bought at its highest or
commercial value, for which there is increasing demand. And to
propose that the difficulty should be overcome by applying revenue
to provide municipal dwelling houses to let at rents which would
necessitate a charge upon the rates, is to adopt an expensive
remedy which would in the long run aggravate the evils already
existing. It would be a safe rule that a Local Authority should not
build under Part III. of the Housing Act unless it can be
done without a charge upon the rates. As far as can be judged
it is impossible to achieve this result under present circumstances
on land in many parts of Central London. Hence it would
appear that the only course open to a municipality in Central
London desiring to build under Part III. is to do so outside its
borders where land is cheaper."
The second difficulty is the cost of building.
Owing to the requirements of Government Departments and to
the exigencies of sanitary standards, the expenses of building are
now considerable. Dwelling-houses must comply with a variety of
building regulations and bye-laws, as regards staircases, floors, height
of rooms, baths, wash-houses, sanitary conveniences, and so forth.
These requirements are admittedly more exacting than in the past,
which is due to the raising of the sanitary standard.
But in addition to these restrictions, all of which add to the
expense of building, there has been a rise during the last ten years
in the cost of building material and of labour. It has become,
therefore, increasingly difficult to put a good sanitary house on the
market at a price which will permit of the rent being such as the
* It will, of course, be recognised that land on the outskirts will rise in value
as the demand rises, so ultimately there will only be in some localities a small
difference in cost. Moreover, in all dealings respecting land for building
purposes outside a borough, it is imperative that there should be mutual co-operation
between-boroughs, and between boroughs and the County Council.