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45
1919
Another result which has accrued from the want of empty
houses has been the crowding of more than one family into one
house. In some instances this has produced nothing more than inconvenience
; in others, the results have been more serious.
This process has been proceeding in this district for some
considerable time.
At the Census of 1901, there were 8326 separate occupiers,
and in 1911, the number was 12,956, an increase of 4,630, compared
with 3,359 new houses built. At the present time more than
one half of the houses in the district are occupied by more than
one family. These houseswere originally intended for one family
and the amount of work carried out varies considerably, but in
only a few instances have the flats been made self-contained.
Another set of figures may be given to show the extent of the
scarcity of houses in the district. Last autumn the Surveyor sent
out a circular letter to the firms in the district asking them to furnish
the number of their employees who desired to obtain houses
within the district; from the returns received and from applications
which were received at the Council Offices, it was estimated that over
3,500 houses were required. Before a single house was ready for
occupation nearly 2,500 applications had been received from prospective
tenants. Abont 400 of these, though, were from persons
residing outside the district.
Overcrowding.
When we refer to overcrowding, we generally mean the number
of individuals which occupy a dwelling house, or in other words
the overcrowding of rooms, but overcrowding on space, or the erection
of an excessive number of houses on any given area may be quite as
important. It is generally found that the two conditions are found
together.
By overcrowding of space is meant the number of houses per
acre of land. It is now recognised by most authorities that
there ought not to be more than 12 houses to the gross acre. In the
Housing Scheme which the Council is now carrying out, there are
only 12 houses to the gross acre.
If 12 houses per acre is taken as a minimum and 5 persons
per house are allowed, we have 60 persons per acre. On a previous
page it was shown that in the North-East Ward there were 15