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(8) Work under Part III. of the Housing Acts, 1890 and 1925.
In addition to the provision of new housing accommodation which has been undertaken in
recent years through the Special Housing Committee, the Council have, through the Public Health
Committee, purchased five dilapidated houses in the Notting Dale area and two derelict houses in
Golborne Ward. Six of the houses have been converted into twenty-four flats and one has been
repaired and made satisfactory for four families. The Public Health Committee, on behalf of the
Council, have acquired a block of eighteen defective tenement flats and an adjoining vacant piece
of land and at the present time the flats are being demolished in order that there may be erected
on the site two large tenement blocks containing 14 self-contained three-roomed flats and 24 selfcontained
two-roomed flats.
(9) Improvements in House Management.
One of the resolutions adopted by the Council in January, 1923, was:—
"That any properties coming into the possession or care of the Council as a result of action
taken by them under any of these recommendations be managed on the 'Octavia Hill' system."
After careful consideration of the resolution, the Council decided that the tenements in Notting
Dale acquired by them before the War and the property referred to in the preceding heading (No. 8)
of this report should be placed under the management of Miss Dicken and a group of ladies working
with her who adopt the "Octavia Hill" method of house management.
Miss Dicken has had many years experience in this class of work in Notting Dale and elsewhere,
having been trained by Miss Octavia Hill as far back as 1897.
By having engaged Miss Dicken, the Council have secured one great advantage in tackling
the difficult problem of overcrowding. Here there is one woman, with a few others working under
her, managing not only the Council's property, but also several hundred other houses, flats and
tenements in Notting Dale. It is thus possible for Miss Dicken to re-arrange famihes amongst the
various properties ; she can from time to time relieve overcrowding here, remove indecent occupation
there and so on Indeed, during Miss Dicken's management, such re-arrangements of occupation
and transfers have been effected that overcrowding has been abolished in the Council's tenements
and conditions generally have been much improved.
The work of these ladies shows that, given adequate supervision, houses occupied by the
poorest class of the community can be kept in a satisfactory state.
(10) General Summary.
The efforts made to comply with the Council's Resolutions of January 11th, 1923, which have
been outlined above, will, I hope, be considered satisfactory. They may be regarded mainlyas an addition
to the normal work carried on in previous years and do not indicate the full measure of improvement
in housing conditions which has been effected. During the past three years the ten District
Sanitary Inspectors have spent a considerable proportion of their time on housing duties and,
indeed, in various directions not covered by the Council's Resolutions, very active steps have been
taken with a view to securing remedies for defects discovered. It will, therefore, be useful to give
a general summary of all the housing work carried out in the three years by the officers of the
Public Health Department.