Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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C.— Proceedings under Sections 11,14 and 15 of the Housing Act, 1925:—
(1) Number of representations made with a view to the making of
Closing Orders Nil.
(2) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Closing Orders
were made Nil.
(3) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Closing Orders were
determined, the dwelling-houses having been rendered fit Nil.
(4) Number of dwelling-houses in respect of which Demolition Orders
were made Nil.
(5) Number of dwelling-houses demolished in pursuance of Demolition
Orders Nil.
Particulars concerning Inspection of Tenement Houses are given in Table 6 on page 84.
OVERCROWDING.
This is still prevalent. In the latter part of the year a report on " Inspection of
Houses and overcrowding " was submitted to the Public Health Committee in order to give
information concerning average housing conditions, as existing in tenement houses in the
Borough at the present time.
The following extracts from the report give the main items of information: —
" The houses in question were inspected by the District Inspectors in accordance with
the requirements of the Housing Act and the Housing Consolidated Regulations.
As the list includes a number of houses in each Ward, the conditions may be taken to
represent average housing conditions in working class areas in the Borough as a whole.
The houses inspected were as follows:—
| Wards | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Houses | 156 | 320 | 180 | 349 | 40 | 87 | 3 | 231 |
The total number of houses inspected was 1,336; these contain 7,896 rooms, and are
occupied by 8,861 adults and 3,565 children. The total number of occupants is therefore
12,426, which equals an average of 1.6 persons per room.
The standard with reference to overcrowding adopted by the Registrar-General
includes all cases in which there are more than two persons per room.
From the above figures it would appear that no serious amount of overcrowding
existed. Such a conclusion, however, would be quite erroneous, for although the average
number of persons per room, taking the figures as a whole, is not excessive, in many cases
individual rooms were found to be grossly overcrowded.
The following are examples : —
In 25 instances 4 persons were found to be living in 1 room.
„ 14 „ 9 „ „ 2 rooms.
„ 24 „ 5 „ „ 1 room.
„ 5 „ 11 „ „ 2 rooms.
„ 6 6 „ „ 1 room.
„ 6 7 „ „ 1 room.
It is therefore obvious that serious overcrowding is still prevalent.