View report page

145
Housing Estates—Memorandum by the Valuer (Mr. Frank Hunt, C.V.O.).
Extension of
Council's
Housing
Activities.
As has been the case in each year since the war the volume of work connected
with the administration of the Council's dwellings has during 1923-24 shown a
continuous increase. This is the natural consequence of the extension of the
Council's housing activities caused by the housing legislation passed in recent
years.
At the end of March, 1923, 7,189 dwellings had been erected under the provisions
of the Housing, Town Planning, etc., Act, 1919, and during the year ended 31st
March, 1924, 857 additional dwellings were provided, making a total of 8,046 postwar
dwellings. Schemes under which nearly 6,000 additional dwellings will be
provided at Becontree, Roehampton, Downham (Grove Park), East-hill-estate,
Wandsworth, the White Hart-lane estate, the Collingwood estate, Bethnal-green,
and the Tabard-garden estate, Southwark, had also been approved. The pre-war
dwellings numbered 9,985, so that the actual number of dwellings in charge at the
end of the year was 18,031, or nearly double the number before the war.
The management of these dwellings, entailing, as it does, in addition to the
normal work of management such as the collection of rents and the execution of
repairs, the handling of a great number of applications for tenancies, the investigation
of the circumstances of the applicants, the rationing of accommodation according
to the applicants' needs, and the numerous other questions inevitably arising in
connection with the management of new estates developed to meet special needs,
has been out of all proportion to that associated with the management of an equal
number of pre-war dwellings. There has also been a great amount of preliminary
work in connection with the development of projected new estates.
Demand for
accommodation.
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 1923-24, 4,350 applicants were registered for certain
types of cottages, although it had been necessary, except in the case of Becontree,
to close the waiting lists, and a great many applicants had to be informed that their
applications could not be entertained. Moreover, as in previous years, a very large
number of persons made inquiries, both written and oral, 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 the number of persons who called at the central office during the year to apply
for houses was over 32,000, an average of 113 a day, while over 31,000 inquiries,
an average of 111 a day, were made by letter as to the possibility of obtaining living
accommodation on the Council's estates. In the case of Downham, which is in the
early stage of development, the names of no fewer than 5,470 prospective applicants
had been recorded at the end of the year, and numerous other enquiries as to the
possibility of obtaining accommodation on this estate are still being received.
Experience has shown, however, that a considerable proportion—approximately
a sixth—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.
During the year it was decided, having regard to the large number of applications
from persons residing in London, that, except in very special cases, all applications
from persons residing outside London, should be held in abeyance.
The difficulty of obtaining suitable accommodation is most acute in the cases
of persons about to be married, newly-married couples, and persons with families