View report page

26
HOUSING
At the end of 1952 the Council had a total of 701 permanent houses and
flats, a total of 586 temporary houses of various types and controlled a
further 1,432 properties under requisition. The requisitioned properties
housed 2,099 units of tenancy.
During the year, 20 permanent flats were completed for the Council,
and 68 flats, 10 maisonettes and 10 shops were in the course of construction.
During 1952, 5,226 improvements were carried out in 1,709 houses,
somewhat less than last year, and outstanding works at the end of the
year totalled 460.
The problems of the repair and maintenance of dwelling houses were
no less acute in 1952 than in previous years. The rising cost of repairs
made the maintenance of old houses uneconomic in many cases. A
large proportion of these old houses are admittedly sub-standard and do
not provide those amenities which are now considered to be essential in
new buildings. They do, however, provide "reasonable" accommodation
at a rental which the poorer paid members of the community can afford.
Private owners are, not unreasonably, unwilling to maintain houses
which cannot possibly provide any return on the necessary capital outlay
and the local authority is equally unwilling to take over all these properties
which are uneconomic and at the same time leave those houses which
provide a reasonable return in private ownership.
In the maintenance of existing property the following is a summary of
the work done in 1952:—