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50
SECTION D
HOUSING
General
The population of the Borough has dropped from 125,000 in 1850
to 101,000 in 1901 and again to 55,000 just before the war in 1938
During the war wide fluctuations occurred due to air raid damage and
evacuation but by 1951 the population became stable at a little over
35,000. This represents 60 persons per acre as against 190 in 1901
and 213 in 1850.
The estimated number of dwellings in 1955 was 9,497 comprising
3,583 houses, 5,866 flats and 48 huts.
The flats are owned as follow
By the Finsbury Borough Council
1,476
London County Council
559
Metropolitan Police
126
Housing Associations
2,463
Private ownership
1,242
Immediately after the war the general condition of housing was
very bad and the shortage of accommodation was acute. The property
generally shewed evidence of neglect; only very necessary work having
been carried out to keep it wind and weatherproof.
Nevertheless, attention should be drawn to great improvements in
conditions which had come about during the first half of the century
This is illustrated by the following figures abstracted from the 1951
census report:
1911
1921
1931
1951
Number of rooms occupied 53,700 49,617 47,641 35,479
Number of persons per room 1.59 1.49 1.42 0.96
Percentage of persons living more than 3 to a room 13.5 10.1 10.6 0.3
„ „ „ „ „ „ 2 „ „ 39.9 34.0 29.4 3.4
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1½ „ „ 64.1 58.5 52.2 16.1
„ „ „ „ „ „ 1 „ „ 80.1 77.1 72.5 42.4
The majority of the houses in the Borough are from 80 to 130
years old and are in varying degrees of multi-family occupation
They were originally built for use by one family only but have
gradually become occupied by 2 or 3 families with unfortunately very
little alteration to provide amenities for each family.