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74
HOUSING.
In the earlier part of this report some reference was made to the subject of
housing in the Borough, and in this portion all that is attempted is to provide the
particulars asked for by the Ministry of Health in the memorandum as to the
contents of reports of medical officers of health.
I.—General Housing Conditions.
(1) Number of houses 21,000.
Number of houses for the working classes : If each tenement or
part of a house let as a separate dwelling be reckoned as a separate dwellinghouse,
there are probably about 9,000.
New houses for the working classes erected during the year or in
course of erection. Nil.
(2) Population (estimated) 97,953. This is almost certainly an underestimate
and the actual figure is probably nearer 120,000
Important changes during the year or anticipated in the future.
None.
(3) (a) Extent of shortage or excess of houses, and
(b) Measures taken or contemplated to meet any shortage.
Since there is a very marked shortage of houses throughout London, there must
be a shortage in St. Marylebone. The share of the Borough in the general shortage
it is impossible to estimate. Speaking generally, and from the health point of view,
for years there has always been a larger population than the area of the Borough
justifies. At the moment conditions are worse than ever before. In the tenement
house districts each house being divided up into the largest possible number of
tenements accommodates more families than in any previous time. This squeezing
of quarts into pint pots makes estimation of shortage all the more difficult. It may
be mentioned, however, that in the early part of 1919, as a result of a rapid survey
carried out by the sanitary inspectors, it was estimated that the population in
tenement houses might be taken approximately to be 28,634, and that the number of
tenements (1, 2, 3 or 4 roomed), containing at least one more person than the
standard of two per room was 1,894. On this basis the number of persons in
excess of accommodation was, at that time, 1,894. Since that time there is little
reason to believe that matters have improved. Conditions so far as the houses
themselves are concerned certainly have, but reference to this matter has been made
already in dealing with the question of sanitary inspection and the difficulties and
delays that have arisen in connection with the getting of work done with a view to
the removal of nuisances, remedying of defects, etc.
In the parts of the Borough occupied by the working classes, the bulk of the
houses are of the tenement class and originally constructed to accommodate one
family only. They have been sub-divided and are let out in tenements of one, two,
three, and more rarely four rooms, no particular attempt having been made to fit the
separate tenements for occupation by a family. As a result most of the conveniences
—water-closets, etc.—have to be used in common and suffer not only as a result of
over use, but from mis-use and neglect. The houses themselves are also to a large
extent misused by the tenants and are neglected by the landlords or owners, who in a