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128
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT WITH REGARD TO WEEKLY
EXPENDITURE OF CERTAIN BETHNAL GREEN FAMILIES
UPON RENT AND OTHER DOMESTIC ITEMS.
A study of the expenditure of the families included in the
enquiry upon rent and other items apart from food sheds a further
light on the difficulties in which they live and affords a little explanation
in some instances of why the amount spent on food
is so low.
Figures with regard to rent are available in respect of 222
families and although for their full appreciation they need detailed
study in relation to the size and income of the family the following
are the salient facts. The average rent for all the families is
11/4 and 35 per cent, of all the rents fall into the same group, 10/to
12/6. This, however, rather obscures the fact that there is a
very wide and arbitrary variation in the actual rent paid which
ranges from 6/— to 26/10. The anomaly is emphasised when it
is explained that the first rent is paid by a family with a gross
income per head of 15/- while the second is paid by a nine member
family with a gross income of 5/9 per head, and notwithstanding
their high rent they are overcrowded while the net income per head
available for food, etc., is thereby reduced to 2/9.
To attempt a comprehensive correlation of income, rental and
size of family would have involved more labour than is available
for the task but close examination of the attached table will
reveal the practical dilemma which faces poor families. To pay
the rent for adequate accommodation for any family in excess
of 4 or 5 persons, especially a decontrolled tenement, they must
go short in the allowance for food, etc. On the other hand, if
they restrict their rent in the endeavour to maintain a decent
standard of food supply, they most probably become overcrowded.
The facts as to overcrowding in this table are not complete as
only a small proportion of the cases were examined from this
point of view.
The rent figures also demonstrate the excessive proportion
of working-class income which is swallowed up in this way. The
average for these families would appear to be about a quarter
but for some of them it is nearly 30 to 40 per cent., and with the