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77
Re-Housing.—
(a) Borough Council.—The total number of families rehoused
from the housing register during the year was 158 of which 35 were
in respect of overcrowded cases and 9 in respect of closures made
undor the Housing Act. Once again the number of new dwellings
becoming available during 1950 was somewhat limited and the
majority of the families were rehoused in requisitioned properties
and casual voids on the Council's estates.
At the end of the year, in addition to 107 occupied hutments,
a total of 1,070 properties giving 1,883 units of accommodation were
requisitioned by the Council in order to provide for persons rendered
homeless as a result of enemy action or who were otherwise
inadequately housed.
(b) London County Council.—By 31st December, 1950, the
L.C.C. had provided alternative accommodation for a total of 373
Greenwich families of which 97 had been certified as overcrowded.
It is interesting to record that of the 373 families rehoused, 210 were
accommodated on L.C.C. Housing estates outside the Borough.
Overcrowding.—The unsatisfactory conditions under which
many families are living is evidenced by the number of complaints
received on this subject. During the year 422 complaints were
received, all of which were investigated by the Sanitary Inspectors
concerned. In 148 instances families wore found to be overcrowded
according to the standards laid down by the Housing Act, 1936, and
were consequently certified as such.
As suggested earlier in this section, the overall housing situation
appears to have shown very little improvement in the past few years
and this is borne out by the number of cases of overcrowding certified
by this department. The figures for the last 5 years are as follows:—
Year No. of cases of overcrowding
reported
1946 261
1947 128
1948 162
1949 168
1950 148
Average 173
As a direct result of rehousing carried out by the Housing
Departments of the Council and County Council, 132 cases of overcrowding
were abated during the year under review.