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74
SECTION D
Housing.
General.—It is a universally accepted fact that a good home
is not only a primary social necessity but of fundamental importance
to the nation's health and by many psychiatric workers the lack of a
good home is considered to be the cause of many social evils.
Although a home is something more than mere 'bricks and
mortar' its corner-stone is reasonable housing accommodation.
Throughout the country this latter point has long been recognised
and every effort has been made in post-war years to provide accommodation
of approved standards. It had been hopofully anticipated
that the level of building costs would gradually fall but this decline
has not materialised. Instead, mounting international tension and
the nation's recourse to rearmament has, in view of the increasing
demand for materials, not only reduced the amount which can be
allocated to housing schemes but has also produced artificial scarcity
which in turn has kept prices moving upwards. Increases in costs of
erection are reflected in rent increases and to-day, rents based on
building costs are tending to become higher than the ordinary man
can afford. In any event it would not be sound public health policy
to move tenants of slum property into new housing estates if increased
rents were to mean inadequate food for the family.
Two obvious solutions appear possible, (a) to reduce the standards
in design, materials and amenities, etc., or (b) to increase the
subsidies in order to bring the rent within the range of the ordinary
man. In the case of (a) above, the adoption of this solution would
be a negation of all that Local Authorities have striven for and it
would invariably incur, in terms of maintenance and administration,
heavier burdens to bear in future years. With regard to (b), it is
obvious that increased subsidies would give rise to increased rates
and taxes with all their inflationary associations.
One can hardly say that the housing situation is improving—
in fact the position at the moment amounts almost to an 'impase'.
During the last 5 years there have been some 3,700 marriages
registered in the Borough but the total new accommodation made
available under housing schemes promoted by the Borough Council,
the County Council and by private enterprise has amounted to
only 2,704 units. It may be that many married couples took up
residence outside the Borough but this is offset by the fact that
the majority of new units of accommodation made available in the
Borough were erected by the London County Council, a great
proportion of which were allocated to non-residents.