View report page

90
The housing needs of Westminster, must be considered not as those
of a self-contained town providing accommodation for the greater part
of the people working in it, but in relation to the general economic development
of the City, which is becoming more and more devoted to commercial
and business purposes with values rising to a great height. Less and less
land will be available for housing and the soundest policy is to secure that
only those persons shall live within the City as must do so by the nature of
their occupations, and to see that the accommodation for them is adequate
and is kept in good order for the working classes.
The present housing accommodation consists of, (i) large blocks of
flats providing good homes for over 25,000 persons, (ii) cottages mostly old,
but which either give rise to no serious problem, or, where no longer
satisfactory as dwellings, are being cleared and the tenants rehoused under
the Council's five-year programme, and (iii) large houses occupied by
several families. These sublet houses require complete adaptation to
become fit dwellings, but, pending action by the London County Council,
who alone have power under the 1930 Act to declare Improvement Areas,
consisting of more than 10 houses, much improvement has been and is
still being accomplished by the City Council by enforcing the by-laws and
statutes relating to them. Houses of all types and occupied by all classes
of the community contain basements, but it is usually only where they
are occupied as separate dwellings and are used for sleeping purposes that
legitimate complaint can be made. In pursuance of the policy of the Council
to close basements for sleeping purposes, many families have been removed
and the five-year programme contemplates further substantial progress
in this direction. Whilst overcrowding exists, the Council is carrying on
a constant war of attrition against it, resulting in the extent of overcrowding
being steadily and substantially reduced.
The City Council has erected, or directly assisted in the erection, of
1,625 flats or houses (1,262 since the war). Other bodies have built
5,311 flats in Westminster (319 since the war), whilst the London County
Council have afforded accommodation for some 1,250 families.
The Council has adopted a five-year programme for the replacement of
unsatisfactory dwellings by up-to-date flats. It includes, (i) the clearance
of four areas comprising 68 houses and the rehousing of 91 families;
and (ii) other schemes providing for 280 new flats were in contemplation.
The City Council's policy of reserving the housing accommodation in
the City for those who must live in the City, and of securing that it is