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138
APPENDIX.
HOUSING ACT, 1935.
OVERCROWDING SURVEY.
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
To the Chairman and Members
of the Housing Committee.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the meeting of the Council held 25th July, 1935, I was instructed
to carry out the survey of overcrowding which was required by Section 1
of the Housing Act, 1935. I, therefore, now submit this report and
copies of Forms C which have been completed showing the results of
the survey.
Object of the Survey.
The object of the survey was to ascertain what houses are overcrowded
and to formulate proposals for the building of houses, etc., to
abate the overcrowding. As the members of the Housing Committee
are probably aware, the London County Council is the authority
responsible so far as London is concerned, and in order to ensure uniformity
of action and comparability of results throughout the metropolitan area
the London County Council issued certain general instructions which
had to be carried out and also supplied the necessary forms. It was left
to the Metropolitan Borough Councils to make their own arrangements
for the actual enumeration and the compilation of the returns relating
to their districts.
The scheme adopted might be described as consisting of three parts:-
1. The preliminary enumeration on Form A showing the number
of working class families occupying each house and the number
of rooms occupied by each family;
2. The detailed enumeration on Form B of all cases of doubtful
overcrowding with measurements of every room in the house;
3. The summarising of the results on Form C.