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The following facts deserve to be noted in connection with this table—
(a) In the first place it will be seen that in the case of 67 out of a total of 174 families, one
or more of whose rooms were overcrowded, this overcrowding arose from misuse of space, i.e., to
say it permitted of abatement by mere modification of existing sleeping arrangements without
involving any question of displacement of the families from the tenements occupied. This
fact is deserving of consideration in connection with the statement which is sometimes made
that the enforcement of by-laws dealing with overcrowding in London is rendered impracticable
by reason of the large displacement of population which, so it is urged, this enforcement
necessarily implies. If it be legitimate to apply the above figures to London as a whole,
nearly one-third of the existing overcrowding in London could be abated without the displacement
of a single family.
(b) Overcrowding from misuse of space is comparatively uncommon in three and four
room tenements, and as regards overcrowding from insufficiency of space the three and fourroom
tenements may be left almost entirely out of the question.
The above table shows that 94 per cent. of the families overcrowded by reason of insufficiency
of space are occupants of one-room tenements.*
According to the census return the population living in three and four-room tenements under
conditions of overcrowding was about 23 per cent, of the total overcrowded St. Pancras population in
tenements of less than five rooms. According to the above table only 14 out of 174 overcrowded families
were living in tenements of three or more than three rooms, and when the cases in which overcrowding
results from misuse of space are excluded from consideration only two families out of a total of 107 are
found to be occupying tenements of more than two rooms. It needs but little reflection to make it
clear that census overcrowding differs in important respects from what may be termed by-law overcrowding.
The above cited results show the importance of distinguishing between the two varieties
when drawing conclusions as to the effect which would be produced by the thorough enforcement of
the by-laws under sec. 94 of the Public Health London Act.
Inasmuch as most mistaken views are from time to time put forward with regard to this question,
it may be worth while to see what light the St. Pancras figures throw upon the matter. About
60,000 persons in St. Pancras are, according to the census return, living under conditions of overcrowding.
Hence it may be objected that to enforce by-laws regulating overcrowding means
providing additional accommodation for this number of persons. The argument is of course altogether
fallacious. As has been seen, the difficulty in connection with insufficiency of space, in the actual
working of by-laws, is practically narrowed down to the problem of how to deal with the occupants of
overcrowded single-room tenements, with, more particularly in the case of exceptionally overcrowded
localities, a certain number of the occupants of two-room tenements. Again, the census definition is
certainly more inclusive than the by-law definition, for it would be easy to multiply instances in the
case of single-room tenements of a room occupied by a man and wife and child, or even man and wife and
two children, and in the case of two room tenements, of occupation by man and wife and four or even
five children, in which the by-law limits were not exceeded. Having regard to these considerations,
and to such light as is thrown on the matter by an estimate based on the results obtained by the
actual inspection of houses in St. Pancras, it may be assumed that the number of persons at the
present time living in St. Pancras under conditions in which the limits of cubic space referred to on
page 7 are exceeded from insufficiency of accommodation falls far short of 60,000, and, indeed, probably
does not exceed 10,000.
It has moreover to be remembered that if the by-laws were enforced, tenements now overcrowded
would be still available for use under conditions in which the limits of the by-laws were not
exceeded, and this accommodation would of course further reduce the estimate of the additional
accommodation necessary, supposing the entire abolition of overcrowding were effected in St. Pancras.
Experience shows that the task of dealing with overcrowding is much facilitated by the fact that
the condition is, as has already been seen, in large degree confined to certain houses and groups of
houses. In the houses in question the majority of the rooms are let out in one or two-room tenements,
but they are equally adapted in most instances for being divided up into two and three-room tenements
Hence in many cases by rearrangement of rooms considerably more than half the population living
under conditions of overcrowding can be accommodated in such a way as to comply with the by-laws,
leaving only considerably less than half the population to be housed elsewhere. It appears therefore
on a review of the matter, that to entirely abolish overcrowding in St. Pancras would involve in reality
a less displacement of population than was for instance entailed by the carrying out of the scheme
undertaken by the Council at Boundary-street, Bethnal-green.
Underground rooms.—The number of underground rooms in St. Pancras is very large, and the
majority of them do not comply with the requirements of sub-section (1) of section 96 of the Public
Health London Act, 1891. Sub-section (3) of the Act extends the application of these requirements
(after the expiration of six months from the commencement of the Act) to all underground rooms let
or occupied separately as dwellings. The sanitary authority may however dispense with or modify
certain of these requisites, provided that any requisite which was required before the passing of the
Act shall not be dispensed with or modified.
The section is only exceptionally enforced in St. Pancras. There are hundreds of rooms
separately occupied as dwellings in the parish in which the requirements made before the passing of
the Act of 1891 are not complied with. Several streets in St. Pancras might be named in which the
basement rooms do not comply, and in which a large proportion of them are admittedly separately
occupied as dwellings.
*It may be noted, however, that if attention be limited to exceptionally crowded areas, the number of overcrowded two-room
tenements is proportionately larger than that obtained by dealing as above with cases taken from all over a large district. Thus, 70 cases
(involving 101 overcrowded rooms) of overcrowding from insufficiency of space, in houses recently acquired by the Council in connection
with the Churchway area scheme, group themselves as follows—40 single-room tenements, 25 two room tenements, 2 three-room tenements,
and 1 four-room tenement were found overcrowded. Both rooms in each of the 25 two-room tenements, 2 rooms in each of the threeroom
tenements, and 2 of the rooms of the four-room tenement were affected.