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the Orders having been made and the premises closed, these were not
determined until the premises were made in all respects, fit for habitation.
During the War, unfortunately, the activity of the Council in regard
to housing was necessarily suspended, with the result that the condition
of working class dwellings had steadily deteriorated. Immediately after
the War, the Housing Act, 1919, came into force, and although this Act
was a considerable advance on previous Housing Acts, simplifying as
it did procedure, and otherwise increasing the powers of local authorities,
the Council's activities under the parts of the Act dealing with the
provision of new houses and slum clearances, especially the latter, had
to be curtailed owing to the inability of the Government for economic
reasons, to keep its promises in regard to financial assistance towards
the Housing Schemes of local authorities. In one direction only,
viz., Part 3, dealing with the repair of unfit houses, was any great progress
made with these enhanced powers. During the twelve years since the
War no less than 6,443 unfit houses were dealt with under the repair
sections of this Act, and its successors. By far the greater number were
voluntarily reconditioned and repaired by informal negotiation with the
owners, who submitted their proposals in writing to the Housing Committee
in the form of specifications of the works of repair they were
prepared to carry out. In only a small proportion of cases was it necessary
for the Council to serve statutory notices under the Housing Acts,
a very fortunate circumstance, as the cost of the repairs carried out by
the Council in such cases of default by the owners amounted to many
thousands of pounds, and in many cases there was a deficit in the amounts
recovered from the owners, or by the sale of the properties.
Notwithstanding the very useful work done in the repair of unfit
houses, very little headway has been made with slum clearance. After
the War, a survey of the housing needs of the Borough was carried out
and six areas were represented by the Medical Officer of Health, but in
only one of these was progress made. In 1922, the Plough Road Area
was selected, and the statutory procedure complied with, but the
Ministry of Health notified the Council that the scheme could not be
approved for financial assistance. In the following year, the Council
again approached the Ministry who eventually agreed to approve a
modified scheme, subject to the Ministry's annual contribution being
limited to 50 per cent, of the annual charge. The formal Order approving
the scheme (as modified) was made in 1924. The scheme was put in
hand in 1924 and adjoining property was acquired by purchase to make
the scheme more effective, and it is now well on its way to completion.
In addition to the problems arising out of the shortage of new
houses and the bad condition of very old property, a number of problems
of a special character required attention. These related to :-
(a) Houses let in Lodgings.
(b) Hut and Caravan Dwellings.
(c) Underground rooms.
The first-mentioned has been a troublesome feature of the housing
situation for many years. Houses let in Lodgings are houses with rooms
let off separately to two or more families, and there are certain groups
of these houses which have given rise to considerable difficulties requiring
constant supervision by the sanitary inspectors. From time to time,
bye-laws have been made by the local authorities under the Public
Health Act, but in London, until the passing of the 1919 Housing Act,
these bye-laws suffered in effect by lack of uniformity. The bye-laws
now in force were made by the London County Council and operate
over the County—the Borough Councils being responsible for their
administration for their respective districts. These bye-laws have not
yet, however, reached their full powers, certain of their most useful
clauses being suspended until the repeal of the Rent and Mortgage
Interest (Restrictions) Acts.