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39
SECTION C
Sanitary circumstances of the Area
The tables on pages 69 to 71 summarise, as far as possible,
the sanitary work of the Department; from these it will be seen
that a total of 18,401 houses and premises have been inspected or
re-inspected during the year; 956 intimation notices and 184
statutory notices were served.
Registered complaints, numbering 1,168 show a fall of 35
from those of the previous year, but again this total is greatly in
excess of the pre-war average of 700.
Repeatedly in the post war years it has been pointed out in
this Report that, as a means of improving sub-standard houses, the
use of Section 9 of the Housing Act, 1936 has virtually been prohibited
by the rising costs of labour and materials and that although
insanitary conditions are remedied, mainly by the application of the
Nuisance sections of the Public Health Act, this seldom provides
satisfactory standards.
Representations on these lines had been made from time to
time by Local Authorities to the Minister of Housing and Local
Government emphasising also the need for legislation in order to
overcome obstruction to the satisfactory repair of dwelling houses
occasioned by the Rent Restrictions Acts.
The outcome of this and other agitation was the Housing
Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, which became effective from
30th August of this year.
Part I provides the statutory powers needed to implement
the proposals made in the Government's White Paper ' Houses—
the Next Step ' and as such is intended to widen the scope of housing
policy.
Since the war, emphasis has been on the erection of new houses
for families without a home of their own. Parliament has now