London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
St Pancras 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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The expression 'permitted number of persons' means in relation to any dwelling
house, either the number specified in Table 1 or Table 2, whichever is the
less.
Every rent book must contain a summary of the overcrowding provisions of
the Housing Act, 1957, and a statement of the permitted number of persons in
relation to the house (Housing Act, 1957, section 81(1)). To enable landlords to
comply with the provisions, printed letters similar to the one attached to this
report have been forwarded to them (Appendix F).
REPORT ON THE OVERCROWDING SURVEY OP THE BOROUGH
The Committee will be aware that the original overcrowding survey was carried
out during the years 1935/37 A comparison between the situation then and now is
as follows:-
Table I
| 1935/37 | 1958/59 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of lettings | 48,210 | 45,387 | |
| Not overcrowded | 43,785 | 44,401 | |
| Overcrowded | 4,425 | 986 | |
| Percentage overcrowded | 9.18 | 2.17 | |
| The number of lettings has diminished by | 2,823 | ||
| The number of overcrowded families has diminished by | 3,439 | ||
| Percentage of overcrowded families has diminished by | 7.01 | ||
Table II
| Total number of lettings where there was statutory overcrowding | 986 |
| Overcrowding by ½ unit | 374 |
| ,, ,, 1 ,, | 272 |
| ,, ,, 1½ ,, | 80 |
| ,, ,, 2 ,, | 52 |
| ,, ,,2½ ,, | 23 |
| ,, ,, 3 ,, | 8 |
| ,, ,, 3½,, | 3 |
| ,, ,, 4 ,, | 2 |
| ,, ,, 4½ ,, | 1 |
| ,, ,, 5 ,, | 2 |
| Overcrowding due to two persons of opposite sex not being husband and wife having to occupy the same room | 3 |
| Number of cases of overcrowding abated since the survey commenced | 166 |
The most serious cases of overcrowding discovered were as follows: -
53