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8
It must not be forgotten that "overcrowding" is but one sign,
though perhaps the most striking, of the housing problem. There
is in addition insanitary property, badly arranged, badly built, or
badly drained houses.
There is also the question of re-housing those who are displaced
from insanitary property, in houses at low enough rent to meet their
needs, and yet possessing the main features of decent dwellings.
The problem, therefore, is admittedly one of the first importance
as regards the well-being of the community,0 yet it was not until
1851 that the legislature directly concerned itself with the quality or
quantity of houses provided in London for the accommodation of
persons of the working class. In that year Lord Ashley (afterwards
Earl of Shaftesbury) called public attention to the disgraceful
condition of working class dwellings in London and many of the
large towns. As a result of his advocacy the Labouring Classes
Lodging Houses Act, 1851, and the Common Lodging Houses Act,
1851, became law. The former aimed at increasing the quantity of
houses for working men by facilitating the establishment in crowded
districts of well managed lodging-houses ; the latter had for its
object improving the quality of dwellings occupied by the working
classes. In 1855 and 1866 followed the Nuisances Removal and
Sanitary Acts for the abatement of overcrowding and the regulation
of houses let in lodgings.
The first Act, dealing directly with the sanitary condition of houses
in general, became law in 1866, and two years later Torrens' Act
was passed. This Act applied to individual houses, and its objects
were based upon the principle that the " responsibility of maintaining
"his houses in proper condition falls upon the owner, and that if he
"fails in his duty the law is justified in stepping in and compelling
"him to perform it." There were a number of matters dealt with
in this Act which considerably advanced the Housing Question in
London. But it was found that there was still no legislation dealing
with insanitary areas, where groups of houses were structurally
defective or so ill-placed with reference to each other as to be
0 "Without healthy houses there is no family—without family there is no
morality without morality there are no men—without men there is no
Empire."—M. Jules Simon.