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222
HOUSING
It is beyond doubt that unsuitable housing conditions are
responsible for many of the smaller and some of the larger
tragedies of life and, by reason of its importance in preventive
medicine, housing is a public health problem and responsibility.
Indeed, the selection and presentation of areas for clearance is a
vital duty of the health department.
However, when expediency is the order of the day, a medical
opinion in housing matters has very little practical weight except
perhaps with regard to clearance areas. Such an opinion is rarely
sought prior to, or in the early stages of planning and even when
given in connection with "re-housing" or "transfer" it has a very
limited effect due to the lack of available accommodation. This
state of affairs is particularly unfortunate in that many medical
and social problems arising in the community more often than not
have a connection, directly or indirectly, with housing conditions
and much misery and unhappiness could be eliminated or substantially reduced by the use of socio-medical advice in the early
planning stages of housing schemes.
To be successful, housing authorities need a high degree of
prescience with planning ability to match. Much criticism has been
levelled by the moderns at the architects and builders of the 19th
century when, under severe pressure exerted by the industrial revolution, they became responsible for the urban areas which are now
subject to re-planning and rebuilding. In those days the sudden
and pressing demand for housing was met by impulsive design and
hurried construction—neither actions being conducive to a satisfactory outcome. Similar pressures are making themselves felt
today and it is conceivable that similar mistakes are being
perpetrated which may warrant similar scathing criticism by future
generations.
Unfortunately perhaps but inevitably, finance has become the
final arbiter in local authority housing schemes and this must lead,
in many instances, to a product which is neither aesthetically
satisfying nor wholly practical.
Many authorities who saw in the Le Corbusier style "skyscraper" flats constructed on the industrial building technique the
panacea to their housing problems, have been disillusioned. Far
from being cheaper, costs can be anything from 20 to 80 per cent,
higher than normal terrace houses of bricks; many such schemes
lack nursery schools, creches or lidos; air conditioning is absent
and central heating, if present, tends to be expensive; lifts are often
slow and readily open to vandalism; double glazing is rare and