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61
The prevailing forms of defects may be grouped under the heading
of general disrepair, due partly to age and partly to repairs which are
more or less unsatisfactory, that is to say, after service of formal Notices
defects are "patched up'' sufficiently to abate the nuisance and so prevent
the institution of legal proceedings.
Sufficiency of supply of houses.
There is a definite shortage of houses in the Borough, as is evidenced
by the fact that practically every house in the Borough is occupied and
that when the list of applications for new houses was closed there were
3,500 families on the waiting list. The majority of applicants were living
in houses in which there was definite overcrowding.
In an attempt to meet the shortage the Local Authority has, since
1920, erected 655 houses and flats, and in addition have converted a
number of houses into 35 tenements, and contemplate erecting flats in
certain "clearance areas" in the Borough which they intend to deal
with in the near future.
There are practically no vacant sites in the Borough and it is only
by planning "learance areas'' that sites can be made available for the
erection of flats.
The London County Council have, during the last six years, rehoused
on their estates approximately 1,207 families.
Overcrowding.
This still proves one of the most difficult questions with which the
Department has to deal. On account of the shortage of houses, together
with the fact that persons whose employment is in the Borough are probably
unable to accept accommodation on the London County Council Housing
Estates, and further, their economic position may preclude them from so
doing, action has only been taken when overcrowding was very gross or
accompanied by mixing of sexes.
95 cases of serious overcrowding and mixing of sexes were reported
to the Public Health Committee during 1930, but owing to the inability
of the overcrowded families to find alternative accommodation the
Committee decided it was impossible for them to take any action. Of the
95 cases, 18 were abated as follows:—