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38
Cases within Categories 1, 2 and 3 have been considered
by a special Sub-Committee of the Public Health Committee
which was established for that purpose. Cases within
Category 4 have not been reported but records have been
made and the families are kept under observation by the
sanitary inspectors who try and secure abatement by persuasion.

The total number of cases of overcrowding abated during
the year was one hundred and four and, in addition, seventyeight
Category 4 cases were also abated during the year.
Since the war, the Special Sub-Committee have dealt
with one thousand and twenty-eight cases of overcrowding under
Categories 1, 2 and 3, and no fewer than seven hundred and
ninety-nine of these have been abated.
Assessment of Housing Priorities on Medical Grounds
During the year three hundred and thirty-six applications
for re-housing on medical grounds were examined, and
recommendations for the award of additional points were made
to the Chief Housing Officer. In each case the precise
medical condition and resultant disability were determined
(frequently necessitating communication with the family
doctor or with the hospital attended.) The premises were
inspected in detail to ascertain the extent and nature of the
existing accommodation; the adequacy of day and sleeping
space; the risk of infection; the existence of remediable or
irremediable sanitary or structural defects, and the existence
of inconveniences, such as stairs which might be prejudicial
to the patient.
On this information and that supplied by the Chief
Housing Officer, an assessment of points to be awarded on
medical grounds was made.
In fifty-one cases, recommendations for re-housing on
medical grounds were also made to the London County Council,
and to other local authorities in five cases.
Hostels
In recent years, consideration has been given to the
question of the increasing number of hostels provided in the
borough for students or persons without homes of their own
or whose places of employment are far removed from their
usual place of residence. Whilst the accommodation provided
differs widely, these hostels are generally satisfactory,
but in a few privately owned hostels the conditions left much
to be desired.
With the consent of the Minister of Housing and Local
Government, the Council made special byelaws under the
Public Health (London) Act, 1936, to enable them to control
and supervise hostel accommodation. These deal with such
matters as:-