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REPORT ON HOUSING NEEDS IN THE DISTRICT, 1937.
To the fifty-nine cases of overcrowding which were discovered
at the Survey made in 1935/36, twenty further cases were added
by the 30th April, 1938 ; eleven of these were " Border-line Cases,"
where the increasing age of the children had created overcrowding ;
seven being resident on the Corporation Housing Estate.
Up to the same date, sixty-two cases have been removed
from the list as the overcrowding has been abated, this result having
been secured by the following means :—
(1) Eleven cases have been accommodated in Corporation
Houses.
(2) Seven cases where lodgers occupied rooms, the lodgers
have been got rid of and the family have taken over the
extra accommodation.
(3) Three cases where the family have arranged for the children
to sleep out with relatives.
(4) Twenty-two cases where the size of the family has been
reduced by the adult children leaving home.
(5) Ten families have left the area.
(6) Two families have secured adequate accommodation in
other parts of the area.
(7) Seven cases have obtained additional accommodation in
their present house.
Of the fourteen remaining cases of overcrowding no less than
five occupy Corporation Houses and these are families who require
six or seven bedrooms. The Corporation are proposing to build
houses of sufficient size to accommodate these families. In three
cases the overcrowding was abated once but recurred.
During 1937, the Survey was made of the ninety-two applicants
for Corporation Houses and from the information compiled it
appears that forty-four cases were in urgent need of the accommodation
by reason of insufficient rooms, unhealthy conditions,
lack of amenities and insufficiency of fresh air.
I should reiterate that these figures take nc account of the many
families whose cases have never been accepted for investigation
because of the closure of the waiting list, or of the three hundred
families which at the time of the Census were compelled to use every
room they had in order to conform to the requirements of the
Housing Act of 1935.
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