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Housing Conditions.
1. General Observations as to Housing Conditions.
Dagenham Parish, in the Romford Rural District, contained
in 1921, 1,871 houses with a population of 9,127. In 1922, 196
houses were crcctcd by the Local Authority in what is now the
Dagenham Ward, and 162 houses in the Chadwell Heath Ward.
In 1920 the London County Council obtained powers to buy some
2,768 acrcs of land, most lying in Dagenham, for housing development.
The first houses in this area were completed in 1921 from
Mich time, up to and including 1930, houses were being completed,
until to-day, out of some 19,000 houses in the district,
about 15,000 are included in the London County Council Bccontrec
Estate.
Private enterprise has resulted in considerable expansion,
Inluding habitations crcctcd over shop property, the total number
of houses built since 1901 is some 2,000.
The Estate houses are well looked after, the scheme providing
for internal decoration every two years and outside decoration
every three years.
Much of the older property has had its life. Many of 1 the
houes need extensive repairs and, for several, this is not economieally
feasible. With the provision of alternative accommodation
for the tenants, large numbers of these houses should be demolished,
For much of the old property, it seems rarely justifiable to incur
heavy expenditure for repairs. A house that has reached a stage
Necessitating reconditioning, can rarely be returned to a condition
free from defects.
Some of the new property has been found suffering from
serious defects within a few months of habitation, numbers having
rooms uninhabitable owing to dampness.