View report page

37
find the association of high density with a relatively good housing
position, and of the converse association of overcrowding with low
population density.
Buildings, Dwellings, Rooms and Families.
In the 1921 Census a new term was introduced as the housing unit,
serving as the basis of the returns. This is called a "structurally
separate dwelling," and it means any room or set of rooms having
separate access either to a street or to a common landing or staircase
accessible to visitors. Each flat in a block of flats is a separate unit.
A private house which has not been structurally divided is a single
unit, whether occupied by one family or by several. But where a
private house has been structurally divided into separate portions
within the meaning of the definition, each portion is regarded as a
separate unit. It has been possible in this census to indicate the
extent to which houses originally built for the occupation of single
families have been structurally divided to provide separate and independent
occupation for two or more families. The average size of
private families (persons) in the London County has fallen from 4.15
in 1911 to 3.79 in 1921, a drop of 9 per cent. In 1921, 147,797
private families, comprising 262,363 persons were living in one room;
that is, there were 1.78 persons per family, and each person had .56
of one room. Such London families numbered 13.2 per cent. of the
whole.
Twenty-three and one-half per cent. of all families had three
rooms and in such houses each person had .78 of a room to himself.
The fall from 4.15 persons per family to 3.79 in the last ten years is
due to the increase in the marriage rate in association with a heavily
reduced birth-rate and (allowing for war deaths) an increased
death-rate.
The reduction in the size of families does not abate the demands of
individual families for separate dwellings. Nearly two-thirds of the
families occupy a portion only of a structurally separate dwelling each.
The average unit of occupation (rooms) has decreased from 3.56
rooms per family in 1911 to 3.38 in 1921. It is only in families
numbering one or two persons that an improvement has been recorded
as regards density standards in homes, whilst a deterioration has taken
place for all other sizes of family. The following table illustrates the
housing of private families in 13 metropolitan boroughs and the City:—