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Some further alleviation of the housing situation is possible if
citizens are encouraged and enabled to acquire their own houses
on reasonable terms for it is axiomatic that for every family rehoused
by its own exertions, accommodation is made available for
some other home-seeking applicant. At the moment, aid in housing
is somewhat haphazard. Some council tenants are subsidised
indiscriminately, others are subjected to a differential rent schemesome
tenants derive benefits from rent control while others get
nothing. There does appear to be an urgent need for a more equitable
approach.
Legislation—Housing Act, 1961—On the 24th November of
the current year this new Act became operative. It introduces a
new system of housing subsidies and gives to local authorities
extensive new powers for dealing with bad living conditions in
houses let-in-lodgings or occupied by members of more than one
family. It also makes a number of changes in the law affecting
condemned houses, improvement grants to private owners, repairing
obligations and town development.
Although under this new Act the Minister, by a realignment
of subsidies, seeks to encourage the building of new houses and
flats and the clearing of existing slums by local authorities, the
duties of public health departments are more likely to be concerned
with the sections dealing with the proper control and managemenl
of houses in multiple occupation.
"Houses in multiple occupation" is a term which includes
houses let-in-lodgings and dwellings which are not self-contained
but which form part of a larger block with shared amenities.
The sharing of a house by more than two households is not
new. In fact, until recent years it was accepted as a normal way
of life, and young people married and founded new households in
the homes of their parents. Today houses in multiple occupation
are more likely to be found in industrial areas among the older
and possibly obsolescent type of Victorian and Edwardian property
which in bygone days used to form the centre of desirable residential
districts. Such a state of affairs arises from a variety of causes,
not least of which is an increase in the standard of living and social
amenities resulting from increased incomes and smaller families.
This often prompted a move from the centre of town to the more
desirable detached or semi-detached residences on the outskirts,
the older vacated properties being bought up and, under new
management, let-off in rooms or sub-let. Sub-letting, unfortunately,
generally leads to a deterioration of property more rapid than