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46
HOUSING.
There is an increasing tendency for larger houses, originally
occupied by one family, to be adapted for use by two or more families.
This entails supervision by the Sanitary Inspectors in order to ensure
that provision is made for, inter alia, adequate water supply, and water
closet accommodation.
A large proportion—the number could be ascertained only by a
house-to-house survey—of houses are already occupied by two or more
families. Such occupation, coupled with the fact that many are
structurally unsuited for the purpose, leads inevitable to a greater wear
and increasing dilapidation. Only by continual vigilance on the part
of the Inspectors can this class of property be kept in a habitable
condition.
Overcrowding continues to be one of the most difficult problems
encountered. Houses or rooms which, when originally let, were not
overcrowded become so through the flow of time as additions to the
family take place. I am continually receiving applications from
distressed tenants for houses upon the Borough Council or the London
County Council estates. In those instances where the tenancy of a
municipal house is granted, steps are taken to prevent the vacated house
being re-let in such a manner that overcrowding will again exist. But
such restriction is necessarily only of a temporary nature.

The London County Council upon their large housing estates,
allocate fifty per cent, of the accommodation to residents nominated by
the Borough Councils. The Valuer of the London County Council has