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43
SECTION D
Housing
General.—At 31st December, 1949, the inhabited dwellings
in the Borough numbered 21,687 and the uninhabited 49. In
considering these figures the following points should be borne in
mind:—
(a) Many of these properties are dilapidated and outworn
and in more normal times would undoubtedly have been dealt
with under the Housing Act.
(b) Of the remainder, a fair proportion are deteriorating
mainly due to the neglect occasioned by the high cost of repairs
in relation to the controlled rents coupled with the continued
shortage of certain building materials allocated for maintenance
and repairs.
(c) Much of the older property does not lend itself satisfactorily
to conversion into the type of accommodation in
demand at the present time and until there is a significant
increase in the provision of new dwellings it is essential that the
existing housing standards should, at the very least, be held at
the present level and not allowed to fall.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find that an undue proportion
of the Sanitary Inspectors' time is absorbed in routine complaints
with accompanying re-visits instead of in preventive functions
which would follow from house to house inspection of their districts.
Rehousing.—
(a) Borough Council.—During the year the number of applicants
rehoused by the Housing Department amounted to 129 of which 23
were in respect of overcrowded cases and 7 in respect of closures
made under the Housing Act. As the number of new dwellings
becoming available during the year was somewhat limited the majority
of these families were rehoused in requisitioned properties and
casual voids occurring on the Council's estates.
At the end of the year, in addition to 109 occupied hutments,
a total of 1,083 properties, giving 1,903 units of accommodation,
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.
(b) London County Council.—Over the same period, the L.C.C.
provided alternative accommodation for 469 families in the Borough,
of which 98 were in respect of overcrowded cases.