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81
Housing Survey.—Through the courtesy of Mr. F. H. Dore,
the Housing Manager, the following extracts are quoted from his
observations on the housing position in 1957 :—
" Last year I concluded my remarks by forecasting that 1957
would not be a good year from the point of view of rehousing from
the general housing register, and this rather gloomy prediction has
proved to be the case. Only twenty-two new dwellings were handed
over for letting during the year, in addition to which there were eight
flats provided as the result of converting formerly requisitioned
properties which had been purchased by the Council. Altogether
the number of lettings from the general register amounted to only
54 as compared with 118 in 1956. Transfers also fell drastically as
compared with the previous year, there being 59 as against 110 in
1956.
Having regard to the particularly acute shortage of accommodation
during the year, every effort was made to encourage mutual
exchanges between tenants and this showed an increase, there being
46 such exchanges effected in 1957 compared with 33 in 1956.
Notwithstanding this reduction in lettings activities, the fall
in the number on the housing register which has been noted over the
past few years continued. There were 2,555 applicants registered
at the beginning of the year which figure had dropped to 2,384 by
31st December, 1957.
The derequisitioning of properties has continued, but at a much
slower rate. As I mentioned last year, a large proportion of the
properties released then were taken back by owners with the
families remaining in occupation as their statutory tenants. Releases
under this provision of the Requisitioned Houses and Housing
(Amendment) Act, 1955 diminished considerably particularly in the
first part of the year, although there was a slight increase in the
number of owners interested in accepting early release of properties
under this scheme after the passing of the Rent Act, 1957 as a result
of which owners could increase the rents of their statutory tenants
to the new rent limits provided for in the Act. The Council decided,
as a matter of policy, that in such cases the statutory tenants of
formerly requisitioned properties released under this arrangement
would only have to pay an amount equal to what they were already
paying, or what they would have had to pay if they were still in
requisitioned properties whichever was the greater. The balance
was made up by the Council as provided for in the 1955 Act.
Altogether 189 dwellings were released from requisition in one way
or another during the year and this included several properties which
were purchased by the Council.