View report page

62
many single-room tenements, as a rule each floor is occupied by one family ; but there are also
tenements of three or four rooms, but in these cases the rooms are necessarily spread over more
than one floor.
The principal drawbacks associated with tenement houses of this type are the
following:—Insufficiency in the number of rooms; most working-class families require four
rooms—a living room, and a bedroom each for the parents, boys, and girls respectively.
Absence or shortage of such essentials as facilities for storing and cooking food, scullery
accommodation, bath, adequate supply of water, and means of getting rid of waste water. As
regards w.c. accommodation, there is usually only one to each house, generally situated either in
the basement or in the yard. No adequate provision exists for storing coals, which usually have
to be kept in one of the room, and no separate facilities for storing refuse, as this can only be
kept in a bin, which is placed in the yard, a situation very inconvenient for tenants on the
upper floors, who, in consequence, either store it for a time in the room until it is convenient
to take it down to the yard, or the rubbish is thrown out of the window on to the yard.
Tenement houses are particularly unsuitable for children, owing to the inadequate
amount of sleep they can obtain, as these houses are invariably noisy and overcrowded. Adults
and children must share the same room or rooms, and sleep is practically impossible until
everyone retires, usually late at night.
A frequent source of nuisance arises from the neglect to keep clean parts of the premises
which are used in common by all the tenants, such as staircase, passages, yard, w.c., washhouse,
etc.
The letting of tenement houses is usually done in one of two ways: either there is a
non-resident landlord who collects the rents from each individual tenant, or there is a resident
tenant, usually protected by the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Acts, who rents the
whole house, retaining one or two rooms for personal use and subletting the remainder.
2.— Sufficiency of Supply of Houses.
During the year further progress was made with the scheme being carried out by the
Borough Council in the Wolcot Street area, the London County County Council's scheme in
Ossulston Street, and with the provision of accommodation in Somers Town by the St. Pancras
House Improvement Society, Ltd.
A scheme has also been initiated recently for the provision of a block of wor king class
flats 011 a portion of the Crown Estate situated to the North of Cumberland Market, previously
used for industrial purposes.
When completed they are to be used to accommodate tenants at present living in old
houses on adjoining portions of the Crown Estate. These houses can then be demolished and
similar blocks of dwellings be erected on the cleared site.
This scheme constitutes a very valuable contribution to the housing needs of the
Borough, for, although on additional accommodation will be available for some time, it is
estimated that the total housing accommodation to be provided will ultimately be considerably
in excess of the amount demolished.
There is still, however, a shortage of houses, chiefly due to the difficulty of obtaining
sites on which to build them.
For the same reason, it would be extremely difficult to provide accommodation in which
to house tenants who must be displaced before any clearance or improvement scheme can be
carried out.