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44
Excluding the families accommodated in requisitioned dwellings,
the total number of dwellings provided since the termination
of the war is now 2,061.
Council Re-Housing.—At the end of the year a total of 2,038
units of accommodation (houses and parts of houses) were requisitioned
by the Council in order to provide for persons rendered
homeless as a result of enemy action or who were otherwise
inadequately housed.
The number of housing applicants accommodated during the
year in new properties was 116 and in requisitioned and pre-war
Council properties 278, giving a total of 394 re-housings.
New 'Points' Scheme.—The work of revising all housing
applications and of applying the provisions of the new 'Points'
Scheme was completed at the end of the year. Through the
courtesy of the Housing Manager, Mr. Dore, the following report
is quoted.
"Position before Revision.
When the Housing Department was set up on the 1st April,
1948, two waiting lists were in operation; one for permanent
accommodation controlled by the Town Clerk's Department, and
one for requisitioned premises operating through the old 'Homeless'
Sub-Department. These two sections employed different methods
of filing, and although the same "Points" Scheme was in use by
both, it would appear there was no common basis of interpretation.
Consequently, it will be appreciated the resultant position in the
Lettings Section of the new Department was very far from •satisfactory.
Duplications were often found on the two lists and
comparison between cases appearing on these separate lists was
somewhat of a problem. It was immediately obvious the old
systems required complete re-organisation and therefore, when the
Council approved the new "Points" Scheme, the register and
filing system had to be drastically revised and brought up-to-date.
Work of Revision.
By the authority of the Committee, temporary clerks were
employed and the first task was to weed out from 5,800 applications
contained in the two old waiting lists, cases which were, really applications
for transfer from existing tenants or licensees. At the same
time a number of cases were found which had in fact already been
rehoused by the Council, and altogether about 1,000 applications were
withdrawn from the old register as a result of this preliminary survey.
Circulars were then despatched to the remaining 4,800 with the
request to complete and return the revised form of application