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28
HOUSING
Housing Act, 1957
Clearance Areas.—One hundred and seventeen houses were included
in representations made under Section 157 of the Housing
Act, 1957, 146 houses were demolished following action under
Section 42 and 254 houses were demolished following action under
Section 43 (2).
Closing Orders.—Under Section 17 of the Act seven houses were
represented for closure and six Closing Orders were made. Under
Section 18 of the Act, representations for the closure of parts of
houses numbered seven and five Closing Orders were made under
this Section during the year. Under Section 27, Closing Orders
were determined in respect of two houses and five parts of houses.
Houses in Multiple Occupation
House-to-house inspections were continued in the Balham and
Battersea districts, and in addition, individual houses coming to the
notice of the department from other sources were inspected.
A total of 2,277 premises, known to be in multiple occupation,
have now been inspected, and it may be of interest to show the
following occupancies per house:
Occupancies: 2 3 4 5 678910+
No. of Houses: 1,117 593 234 123 84 48 34 23 21
There is still a considerable amount of work being carried out by
owners, on a voluntary basis, but it is anticipated that in 1967 it
will be necessary to serve notices under Sections 15 and 16 of the
Housing Act, 1961, on landlords who have not complied with
requests to bring their properties up to a standard acceptable by the
Council.
Sixteen Direction Orders were made and this is proving an
effective way of limiting numbers in over-occupied houses.
A Direction Order has the effect of limiting the number of persons
who may occupy premises which do not comply with the Council's
standards.
Two technical assistants were appointed earlier in the year and
work under the direction of a senior public health inspector
employed full-time on houses in multiple occupation.
This work requires a considerable number of visits being made
during the evening and at weekends. The problem of multiple
occupation appears to be increasing and it may be necessary for
additional technical staff to be employed if real progress is to be
made.