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The work connected with the management of the pre-war dwellings has also been
greatly increased in recent years by the execution of repairs which had to be left
in abeyance during the war, and the adjustments of rents necessitated half-yearly
under the provisions of the Rent Restrictions Acts. On a moderate estimate, the
volume of housing administrative work is now at least three times as heavy as it
was before the war.
There has been no abatement of the great demand for accommodation on the
Council's estates. Apart from the large number of applications which had previously
been received, 10,151 applications were received during 1920-21, and 10,036 during
1921-22, although, in the main, it had been found necessary to close the waiting
lists as early as 1920. During 1922-23 8,740 applicants were registered for certain
types of cottages, and it was necessary to inform a great many applicants—so
numerous that the pressure of work did not permit of their number being recorded—
that their applications could not be entertained. Moreover, as in previous years
a very large number of persons made inquiries, both written and verbal, as to the
possibility of obtaining accommodation and, being informed of the position, did not
make formal applications which in the circumstances would have been futile. It
is undoubtedly the case also that many persons refrain from making inquiries owing
to its being well known that the Council cannot, in present circumstances, meet the
requirements of the numerous applicants already registered. It is indicative of
the situation that, at the end of the year, even after taking these factors into consideration,
no fewer than approximately 14,600 applications were on the registers
awaiting attention, while during the last quarter of the year over 8,000 persons
called at the office seeking accommodation and over 2,400 written requests were
made. Experience has shown, however, that a considerable proportion—approximately
a quarter—do not avail themselves of accommodation when it is offered to
them. Of these about half are unable to pay the rents required, while others have
obtained accommodation elsewhere in the interval that has elapsed since the receipt
of their applications.
The difficulty of obtaining suitable accommodation is most acute in the cases
of persons about to get married, newly-married couples, and persons with families
so small as to render them ineligible for accommodation in dwellings other than those
of the smallest types.
Demand for
accommodation.
Before the war it was the general practice of the Council, upon the receipt of
satisfactory references, to accept tenants in the order in which their applications
were received. Preference was given (i.) to persons displaced through the
acquisition by the Council of property for clearance or improvement schemes or
other public purposes, and (ii.) to persons already residing in London. These
preferences still hold good. Since the war the Council has, from time to time,
given temporarily further preferences, other circumstanes being equal, to persons who
gave up their homes in order to join H.M. Forces or to undertake work of national
importance, to firemen required to vacate quarters at fire-stations and to certain
other small classes of people.
Method of
allotting
accommodation.
In order to make the full use of all available accommodation the Council has
found it necessary to adopt the following general principles :—(i.) Applicants are
to be allotted dwellings not larger than are deemed to be sufficient to meet the reasonable
needs of their families, taking into consideration the sex and ages of the children
and the bedroom accommodation required ; (ii.) no person residing alone is to be
accepted as a tenant; and (iii.) not more than two rooms are to be allotted to a
married couple without children or two single women living together. In some cases
the circumstances of the applicants, owing to ill-health, overcrowding or the insanitary
state of their homes or to other conditions have been such that it was decided
during the year to grant special preference in exceptionally hard cases of this kind.
In a good many cases it has been necessary during the year to decline to entertain
applications on the ground that the family income of the applicants was inadequate