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housing accommodation was being allowed to decay beyond the possibility
of repair than could be replaced by the municipal dwellings being
erected.
Most medical officers of health in London are entirely in sympathy
with the view expressed in my last Annual report which stated that,
"At one time it looked very likely that far more dwellings would
deteriorate completely beyond repair than could be compensated
for by the excellent new dwellings erected by the Council which
everyone rejoices to see nearing completion. The number of persons
living in non-municipal dwellings will for very many years to come
be far greater than can be accommodated in municipal dwellings.
It is highly desirable that the contrast between the two types of
dwellings should cause as little bitterness as possible."
The Housing Act, 1936 permits the enforcement of a standard of
repair which is beyond that which can be enforced under the Public
Health (London) Act, 1936, but the licensing system and restriction to
quota made work under the Housing Act impossible.
It is necessary under the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, to
restrict a notice to certain nuisances enumerated in the Act, or to conditions
which can be proved to be a nuisance or injurious to health, but
even under this Act the sanitary authority was urged to restrict work
to the barest minimum in order not to exceed the quota.
Whereas, on the one hand, clearance and demolition under Sections
25 and 11 of the Housing Act, 1936 were restricted, housing authorities
were urged to acquire property by Compulsory Purchase and demolish
the dwellings for the purpose of erecting municipal blocks of flats which,
of course, house considerably more people than those accommodated
in the demolished buildings, but it was also always the case, except as
regards very small areas, that clearance under Section 25 of the Housing
Act, 1936 was a preliminary to the erection of municipal dwellings and,
therefore, even those clearances had the ultimate effect of increasing
housing accommodation.
The widespread destruction of dwellings during the war made it
unavoidable that dwellings which would otherwise have been considered
unfit for human habitation should continue to be occupied, and the
Ministry of Health stated that, although councils should work as closely
as possible to the standards of the Housing Act, yet it might obviously
be impossible to conform to that standard on many occasions. Every
available house that could be rendered habitable had to be put into use;