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224
HOUSING
To say that the housing problem is involved and complicated
is to be banal. It is probable that, collectively, unsuitable housing
conditions form the greatest single cause of unhappiness within
the community. Furthermore, it is indisputable that much mental
illness stems from very close and uncongenial living conditions, but
it is also true that enforced loneliness resulting from the operation
of clearance schemes is conducive to similar effects. In these
days of extreme housing shortage, it is perhaps unavoidable that
the psychological aspects of the situation become overshadowed by
the demands for new housing and slum clearance but public health
authorities will ignore these aspects at their peril. Public Health
is inextricably involved in housing problems, for the provision of
houses of good standard is a prerequisite for the elimination of
disease, mental and physical, and a basis for the maintenance of a
happy and contented existence.
Since the last war, the insistent demand for more and better
housing has, in urban areas, been met largely by multi-storey
dwellings on the assumption that it was cheaper and more conservative of the limited space available. Much of the supposed
advantages of high density housing achieved by building upwards
have proved to be illusory. Experience has shown that flats are
rarely cheaper than houses. Indeed, with the necessity of providing
fire-proof stairs and other insulation and with the introduction of
lifts and perhaps a building frame, multi-storey dwellings often
become the most expensive form of housing. Moreover, site costs
per dwelling are not materially reduced by building upwards to
achieve the planners' desired densities for, under present regulations,
it is obligatory for tall blocks of flats to have considerable open
space around them. Again, maintenance of flats tends to be more
costly in labour and equipment and the provision of social and
cultural amenities, usually unnecessary in traditional housing,
becomes essential. To add further to the disadvantages of multistorey building it seems almost discourteous to urban local
authorities to reiterate that, traditionally, the British are house and
not flat dwellers and they have an abiding love for a garden
however small. Where people are constrained to take up "flat
life", difficulties in attaining a successful environment often arise,
for the pursuit of hobbies and pastimes has mainly to be made away
from the home and its influences. In newly built areas, where few
social or cultural amenities exist and there is no community background, the effect, especially upon the young, is most marked.