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Houses unfit for human habitation
The housing team of the section has been working under
considerable pressure to keep up with the amount of work
involved in dealing with the varied and complex
responsibilities of the borough with regard to sub-standard
housing conditions. In this respect, the surveys have
continued of properties, which had been considered as
being of an age and type of construction to warrant detailed
inspection. When the programme for inspection was
formulated, it was thought logical to give those properties
priority, which were considered to be in the poorest
condition. Towards the end of the year, it was apparent
that the worst areas had been dealt with and that more
houses were being excluded from proposed clearance areas
as being fit. In many cases, the effect of this was to divide
up areas of a reasonable size into several smaller areas,
which were unsuitable for redevelopment. This has led to a
view that with the availability of improvement grants
perhaps the latter part of the programme could better be
dealt with by a "Repair and Improve" policy, rather than
by piecemeal demolition.
In addition to the Housing Act inspections, inspections
are carried out by the district public health inspectors of
houses, where there are alleged to be defects giving rise to
public health nuisances. Notices are served to bring about
the abatement of such nuisances.
The following is a summary of the work involved in
dealing with unfit housing: —
(a) Eleven clearance areas were declared, comprising in
total 68 houses.
(b) Thirteen houses demolished due to clearance area
action.
(c) 123 houses were made fit for human habitation by
informal action.
(d) 31 houses made fit for human habitation by formal
action.
(e) 11 houses closed as being unfit for human habitation.
(f) 2 houses upon which demolition orders were made.
(g) 6 closed houses made fit by the owners and the
Closing Orders subsequently determined.
(h) 13 houses demolished because of unfitness.
Houses in multiple occupation
During the year efforts have been made to carry out house
to house inspections in specific areas, which are known to
contain large numbers of houses in multiple occupation.
Such inspections must, of necessity, be detailed and the
survey has presented many problems in deciding the
appropriate action to be taken in each case. Although
certain standards have been agreed regarding such houses,
there are very often several methods of gaining compliance.
One aim has been to encourage owners of multi-occupied
houses to take advantage of Improvement Grants and convert
the properties to self-contained flats, where it is technically
practicable to do so. In this way, each family is assured of
the standard amenities for its own use and it reduces the
number of households having to share amenities.
Cases of overcrowding are dealt with by statutory
action to control the number of occupants and close
co-operation is maintained with the Housing Department
to assist in the re-housing of displaced families.
One very serious hazard in such premises, is the outbreak
and spread of fire and very stringent standards are enforced
to ensure adequate means of escape for the occupants and
to the control of the spread of flames and smoke in the
event of a fire. Some indication of the extent of this
particular problem can be given by quoting that to date, of
the 570 houses found to be in multiple occupation, no less
than 318 (just over 50%) were found to fall short of the
required standards relating to the means of escape in case of
fire. The marked progress which has been made in this
aspect of environmental health is indicated by the following
statistics: —
(a) Estimated total number of houses within the borough
in multiple occupation 7,000
(b) Number of houses inspected to locate houses in
multiple occupation 1,010
(c) Number of houses found to be in multiple
occupation 570
(d) Number of units of living accommodation involved
in (c) 2,850
A total of 2,989 visits were made by officers of this
department in connection with this work.
The council has powers to serve direction orders on the
person responsible for the house to control the use of
rooms so that over occupation does not continue. The
value of these orders is lost however if regular re-inspections
are not made to see that the occupation does not vary.
This is a time consuming duty but without it the control is
useless.
Underground rooms
Due to staff shortages, it has not been possible to start a
comprehensive survey of the known basements within the
borough, but some have been inspected in conjunction
with the survey of houses in multiple occupation. A
majority of the houses with basement accommodation are
of an age as to have been constructed at a time when
building techniques regarding damp proofing were not very
advanced and it is doubtful whether many of them are free
from penetrating and rising dampness. In some cases, the
dampness is at best masked by patent wall finishes but
where applications for determination of Closing Orders are
madeia permanent method of damp proofing is insisted
upon. There is every intention of giving this type of
accommodation more attention when time and circumstances
permit but in the mean time, each case will be dealt with as
it is encountered during routine housing work.
(a) Number of inspections of underground rooms 52
65