Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornsey, Borough of]
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Although most of the houses in the Borough were built at the end of
the 19th century and were designed for the larger families of that
period, many of them are now occupied by two or more families, and
in fact out of 36,000 households in the Borough over 19,000 are living
in shared dwellings. In consequence many of the amenities have to
be shared, and in some cases families are denied access to them.
The proportion of all households sharing a dwelling in Middlesex fell
from 28.5% to 16.3% and although Hornsey's fell from 63.5% to 54%
it is still the highest in the County.
Overcrowding represented by the number of families Living more
than l½ persons per room has also increased during the 10 years,
from 1,627 families to 1,901, this latter figure representing 5.4 per
cent of the families in the Borough. In Middlesex as a whole the
figure was 3% compared with 4.8% ten years previously. Different
figures would, of course, be obtained by using the standards of the
Housing Act, 1957, but this cannot be estimated from the census
returns as it is not possible to differentiate between children under
and over 10 years of age nor to allow for separation of the sexes.
Household Facilities
Information collected at the census this time on household facilities differs from that of 1951 and no direct comparison can therefore be made. The following table shows the facilities available to householders in 1961.
Facility | No. of Households | |
---|---|---|
Sharing | Without | |
Cold water tap | 2,583 | 70 |
Hot water tap | 4,014 | 8,628 |
Water closet | 11,838 | 123 |
Fixed bath | 15,109 | 2,748 |
Exclusive use of all four - 15,868 - 44.8% of all households. | ||
Cooking stove and kitchen sink | 16,451 | |
Total number of households | 35,406 |
It will be seen that less than half of all households have the
exclusive use of cold and hot water tap, water closet and fixed bath.
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