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63
It has been publicly stated by a well-known housing authority that " those who have
benefitted by the national expenditure and by the large subsidies which have been granted have
been the fairly well off, not the poorest classes, who need most help, especially not those members
of the poorest class who have large families. Even municipal authorities, when they come to let
houses, tend, like any other landlord, to let to the most eligible tenant, that is the applicant with
the most money and the fewest children."
If this statement can be accepted it would follow that if overcrowding is to be abated the
first consideration in the allocation of accommodation should be housing need rather than ability
to pay rent, and if this policy were adopted, the present loss in municipal enterprise would be
largely increased.
In this connection the building of two-bedroom flats out of public funds has been criticised. It
is pointed out that such flats are only suitable for persons with very small families, and these can
more easily house themselves. The alternative would be to let them to families for whom three
bedrooms are necessary, but, on both sanitary and moral grounds, such a policy would be indefensible.
It must be appreciated that the private landlord is averse to letting rooms to persons with
large families, as children are apt to be destructive, and therefore the upkeep of the premises is
heavy. It would, therefore, appear that, as regards housing such families, the solution lies with
the local authorities.
To provide adequate accommodation for these poorer families at rents they can afford to
pay is a most difficult problem. At the present time there is no vacant land available in the
Borough on which to build dwellings to house persons who would be displaced if any large
clearance scheme could be formulated, and although the new Housing Act, 1930, provides for a
larger subsidy, which would enable a corresponding reduction to be made in the rents, the site
difficulty still presents itself.
Apart from the provision of flats, consideration might be given to the policy of reconditioning
existing houses. These could probably be let at lower rents than newly erected houses. Here
again a difficulty presents itself in St. Pancras, owing to the scarcity of suitable houses at the
present time.
In conclusion, it might be advisable to define the position with reference to the interpretation
of the word overcrowding " :—
(a) Tenement houses. In rooms used exclusively as sleeping apartments, the Tenement
House Bye-laws require 300 cubic feet of free air space for every person of 10 years of
age or over and 150 cubic feet for each child under 10 years occupying such room. In
rooms not used exclusively as sleeping apartments, the requirements are 400 and 200
cubic feet respectively. When the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restriction Acts cease to
be in force, the requirements will be 400 cubic feet per person, with no reduction for
children.
(b) In houses which are not Tenement houses no standard is provided, any necessary action
with reference to overcrowding must be taken under the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, and it would be necessary to prove injury or danger to health, but in such instances
the Magistrate would probably apply the standards laid down with reference to Tenement
houses.
(c) A standard of two persons per room is frequently assumed to be a useful criterion. This
has been adopted by the Registrar-General for statistical purposes, but is of little value in
practice, as it takes no account of the size of the room nor the sex of the occupants ; it
also has no validity in law. In many cases, with a family of young children, more than
two persons can quite justifiably occupy one room. On the other hand, a man and wife,
with a grown-up son and daughter, would require three bedrooms, which is a standard of
less than two persons per room.
(d) In connection with the accommodation to be provided under the Housing Act, 1930,
Section 37 regards a house containing two bedrooms as providing accommodation for
four persons, a house containing three bedrooms as providing accommodation for five
persons, and a house containing four bedrooms as providing accommodalion for seven
persons. This standard is distinctly unreasonable and most also prove to be very
expensive in practice. No reference is made to the size of the room or to the age or sex
of the occupants, and if strictly enforced would even exclude an infant from the room
occupied by the parents.
I am, etc.,
G. Sowden,
Medioal Officer of Health.