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115
The Group "B" section comprises applicants who have built
up points representing residential qualification and period of waiting
on the register itself or who have 10 or less points affecting housing
need. Owing to the heavy demands which the Housing Committee
have to meet during the next 5-year period, it is recognised that
very little progress can be made in the direct housing of these
families. Nevertheless the Committee recognise that many of these
families are living in dwellings which fall short of present day
housing standards and because of these circumstances it has been
decided to approach the owners to ascertain if they would be willing
to sell these properties to the Council in order that a scheme of
improvement might be applied and thereby secure a further valuable
contribution towards the housing pool for general letting purposes.
In previous reports I have indicated a continued fall in the
number of registered applicants on the general waiting list and I
find that again this trend has continued during the year. This is
indicative of housing progress and also attributable to the constant
revision of the register itself because it means that of the total
number of applicants seeking more suitable housing accommodation,
the figure is at least realistic since applications are cancelled in
cases where the registration cards are not submitted for endorsement
each year.
The mutual exchange system continues to serve a very good
purpose. It is available to any person who is interested in trying
to effect a mutual exchange to solve their housing problem. Council
or private tenants inside or outside the Borough are eligible for
consideration and the system is particularly helpful in the case
of families with bona fide reasons who desire to move into Greenwich
from some other part of the country coupled with the movement
of the family out of the Borough. Another main function of
the register is to assist tenants of Council dwellings to solve their
housing and domestic problem by exploring the possibility of
exchanging with another within the Borough. At the present time
some 392 names are listed on the mutual exchange register. During
the year 43 cases involving mutual exchanges were arranged as compared
with 39 during the corresponding period of 1960.
From the end of 1962 onwards the intake of accommodation
from the Council's new building programme shows considerable
improvement on the immediate past two years, it being anticipated
that about 750 additional dwellings will be provided up to the
end of 1965 which figure, of course, will include a certain number
of acquisitions of existing properties under the Council's general
redevelopment plan."