London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hammersmith 1960

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hammersmith Borough]

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15
SECTION C
HOUSING
Rehousing.
The Housing Manager continues to co-operate with the Health
Department on applicants with overcrowding or medical problems.
Requests are received asking for inspections to be made with a
view to ascertaining whether a family is living in overcrowded
conditions. Enquiries are then made by the Public Health Inspectors,
and, if a family is found to be living in such conditions, overcrowding
is duly certified.
In instances where the request is accompanied by medical
certificates supporting the family's application on medical grounds,
very careful consideration is given that the recommendations are
made only for the most urgent cases, having regard to the nature
of the illness, the condition of the premises and the amenities
available.
Applications for rehousing by the London County Council are
made to that authority direct, and requests for various enquiries to
be made are received from that Council through the Housing
Manager. In cases where there is medical evidence, the Medical
Officer of Health to the London County Council is responsible for
allocating priorities on health grounds, but rehousing on such
grounds has become very substantially reduced.
10 cases were recommended for rehousing on grounds of health
and 80 on grounds of overcrowding.

I append a table showing the number of cases recommended for rehousing under the headings mentioned above, and those actually rehoused from 1949.

YearHEALTH GROUNDSOVERCROWDING GROUNDSSPECIAL CASES
RecommendedRehousedRecommendedRehousedRecommendedRehoused
19496125358132344
1950351043920389
195137102438894
195227101877977
195330617865175
195434214586144
19552831295565
19561649745-
19571859013--
1958201369161
195910657251
1960102809
Totals326962,07277510040

To make the above figures realistic it should be pointed out
that the figures for those rehoused are extremely unlikely to be from
recommendations of the same year.