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situated, the presence of any sanitary defects and whether any of the rooms are unfit for
human habitation and should be closed. When this information is before me I am in a
position to consider it together with any medical report and data I may have from various
voluntary bodies or hospital departments as to particular circumstances which must be taken
into consideration.
It must not be anticipated that the effect of this investigation is to increase the number
of families awaiting rehousing. On the other hand in many cases it is found that by the
provision of an adequate water supply and the amelioration of certain adverse sanitary
conditions, the immediate and sometimes the permanent need for rehousing can be obviated.
The primary object of the investigation is to secure that such accommodation as does become
available is given to those whose needs on all grounds are the most urgent.
Of those cases who were recommended priority A on medical grounds, severe rheumatism
accounted for some and heart disease, post-operative conditions, tuberculosis, and crippling
defects for others.
There are at present 8,846 families awaiting rehousing in the Borough of St. Pancras.
Last year this number was in the neighbourhood of 12,000. The Housing Department sent
out questionnaires to the majority of the families on the waiting list asking them if they still
required rehousing by the Council. 3,482 did not reply, whilst 1,073 of the questionnaires
were returned through the dead letter office. 382 replied that they did not wish their names
to remain on the list. As a result it has been possible to place before you a figure which truly
represents families who are now awaiting rehousing.
The reduction in the waiting list suggests that many of those persons who had asked the
Council to find alternative accommodation for them have in the meanwhile secured rehousing
either through another authority or as a result of their own efforts. The housing list is still
very large and the Council is now dealing with families who are in urgent need of rehousing
and who applied at the end of 1945.

It is now estimated that no less than 13,500 or 9.6 per cent. of the population of the
Borough are tenants of the Council. At the present moment about 150 applications are
being received each month.
Last year I was able to refer to the number of Council flats which were actually in course
of erection. This year it is pleasing to report not only that in nine of the Council's housing
schemes, totaling 681 flats, the buildings are in course of erection, but that during the year
312 were completed and are now in occupation. Large blocks of flats are arising in various
parts of the Borough, providing a standard of accommodation for the working classes
contemplated in the past but now being achieved in reality.