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193
Housing of the Working Classes.
Rehousing in
connection
with improvements,
etc.
The amount expended on capital account by the late Metropolitan Board of Works and the
Council up to 31st March, 1911, in respect of the clearance of insanitary areas (exclusive of the cost
of erecting new buildings), amounted to £3,420,255 7s. 5d., while the receipts derived from rents and
sales of land, including the amounts charged against the accounts of the dwellings for the housing
values of sites appropriated for that purpose, together with the contributions from local authorities
towards the cost of carrying out Part II. schemes, amounted to £906,740 Is. Id., thus leaving the net
expenditure at £2,513,515 6s. 4d.
In carrying out public improvements other than schemes under the Housing Acts, involving
a statutory obligation to rehouse, the Council has displaced 12,313 persons of the working class, and
has provided accommodation in new dwellings for 12,895 persons in lieu of that destroyed.
The construction of Rotherhithe Tunnel involved the displacement of 2,842 persons of the
working class. Rehousing accommodation for 1,990 persons has already been provided, leaving an
obligation outstanding to erect further dwellings on two sites on the south side of the Thames in Albionstreet
and Clarence-street, Rotherhithe, and on a site on the north side of the river at London-street,
Ratcliff. Having regard to the large number of empty tenements, not only in private ownership, but
also in some of the Council's dwellings in the vicinity, it was considered that the provision of further
dwellings in these districts would probably be attended with unfavourable financial results, and the
Council therefore decided on 19th April and 12th July, 1910, to ask the Local Government Board for
release from the obligation to erect further working-class dwellings on these sites (6).
In two cases the Council has, in the exercise of its powers under Part III of the Act of 1890,
fulfilled rehousing obligations incurred by other authorities. The late School Board for London was
required to provide accommodation for 1,030 persons displaced from properties which it had acquired
in various parts of the county, and in consideration of a payment of £10,359, the Council provided
this accommodation at Preston's-road and Norfolk-street, Poplar. Under the Green-street and Gunstreet
schemes, two insanitary areas were dealt with by the late Vestry of St. George-the-Martyr,
Southwark, and after the sites had been cleared the Council purchased the land and erected upon it
dwellings with accommodation for 418 persons.
The acquisition of property by the Council for various purposes does not always necessitate
the provision of rehousing accommodation for the persons of the working class displaced. In the
case of 2,675 persons occupying houses demolished by the Council from time to time in connection with
street improvements, construction of bridges and tunnels, provision of new schools, etc., there was
no statutory obligation to rehouse. As regards 2,198 persons of the working class similarly displaced
in various parts of the county, the Council was required to submit rehousing schemes for the approval
of the Home Secretary or the Local Government Board, but in view of the large number of vacant
wroking-class tenements in the vicinity of the various sites, the confirming authority decided in each
case that it was unnecessary to provide new dwellings under a special scheme for rehousing the persons
displaced. During the year the Local Government Board released the Council from rehousing
obligations as regards 106 persons displaced from properties over which compulsory powers of
acquisition had been obtained for purposes of the education service.
Common
lodging
houses.
The Council has provided three model lodging-houses for men containing altogether 1,849
cubicles, viz. : Parker-street House and Bruce House, Drury-lane, and Carrington House, Deptford.
The charge for accommodation is 6d. and 7d. a night for each lodger, which includes the use of the
dining, reading and recreation rooms, cooking utensils, crockery, etc., lavatory, feet-washing room,
wash-house, boot-cleaning and dressing rooms, etc. For a hot bath one penny is charged and a
nominal charge is made for the use of lockers in which the lodgers may store their personal belongings
At each house there is a shop at which lodgers can obtain food either cooked or uncooked and facilities
are provided for lodgers to cook their own food if they so desire. At Bruce House and Carrington House
a few cubicles, specially furnished, are let at Is. a night or 5s. a week.
Part III.,
estates.
Although committed to the policy of itself undertaking the erection and management oi dwellings
when under specific obligations to secure re-housing accommodation for persons displaced by
clearance and improvement schemes, the Council hesitated for some time to embark on undertakings
involving the provision of accommodation for persons of the working-class apart from such obligations
H wever, on account of the deficiency of such accommodation existing at the time, the Council decided
on 6th December, 1898, to extend its housing operations by taking action under Part III. of the Housing
of the Working Classes Act, 1890. Since that date the Council has voluntarily provided in various
parts of the county a number of tenement dwellings capable of accommodating 4,068 persons ; and.
in addition, it has acquired four suburban estates at Tottenham, Tooting, Norbury and Hammersmith
comprising nearly 340 acres, upon which cottages are being erected. Up to 31st December, 1910,
2,054 cottages, with accommodation for 15,363 persons, had been completed on these estates, making
a total accommodation for 19,431 persons provided under Part III. of the Act, exclusive of certain
dwellings and lodging houses, which, although erected under Part III., were provided to fulfil statutory
rehousing obligations.
During the year under review the Council had under consideration the question of the policy
to be pursued in regard to the land which it had acquired under Part III. of the Act of 1890.
In 1909 the Council, having formed the opinion that it held more land for housing purposes
than it was likelv to require for some time to come, applied to the Local Government Board for its
(b) The Local Government Board has since intimated that it is prepared to comply with the Council's application
as regards all three sites.