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HOUSING, 1922-52.
The Borough of Camberwell is mainly residential. The
Census of 1921 revealed that the population was 267,198 persons
comprising 66,104 private families who occupied 41,419 structurally
separate dwellings. The number of rooms occupied was
248,529 —an average of 3.75 rooms per family. These figures
proved that there was a large number of houses originally constructed
for one family then occupied by two or more families.
The extent of overcrowding at the time is revealed by the
following facts concerning density of occupation in Camberwell
: —
1,587 families consisting of 2 persons living in 1 room
903 „ „ 3 „
271 „ „ 4 „
74 „ „ 5 „ „ „
26 „ „ 6 „
3,692 „ „ 2 „ „ 2 rooms
3,023 „ „ 3 „
1,593 „ „ 4 „
885 „ „ 5 „
360 „ „ 6 „
The problem of overcrowding gave rise to considerable
concern long before the first world war of 1914-18, and was
due to a number of causes. These causes included the increased
industrialisation of the Borough resulting in dwelling houses and
parts of dwelling houses being replaced by factories and workshops;
the continued annual increase of births over deaths;
the limited number of houses erected annually; the stoppage
of building during the years 1914 to 1918; and the inability
of poor people with large families to pay an economic rent for
suitable accommodation.
In the Annual Report for 1922 attention was drawn to the
seriousness of the far-reaching moral and physical effects of
overcrowding and to the probability of that deplorable state of
affairs continuing until the overcrowding of London was dealt
with as a whole. In the 1924 Annual Report it was emphasised
that the housing shortage constituted the most pressing public
health problem of the day and until it was effectively dealt with,
much of the expenditure entailed by the Public Health Department
would fail to produce the best results. In the Annual
Report for 1929, the suggestion was made that storey-dwellings
type of accommodation at low rents should be provided in
districts where there is an absence of suitable building sites, and
that these blocks of dwellings should be of an improved standard
with as many as possible of the domestic amenities of the small
dwelling house.
With the erection of accommodation within and outside
London by the London County Council, overcrowding became
less prevalent. Nevertheless, in 1930, 400 cases of overcrowding
were known to the Public Health Department of Camberwell.