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50
OVERCROWDING.
During the course of a systematic inspection of 5,140 houses
between 1st January and 31st December, 1931, 124 or 2.4 per
cent. were found to contain one or more overcrowded rooms. The
standard of overcrowding was on the basis of a minimum of 360
cubic feet air space in sleeping rooms for persons over 10 years
or 400 cubic feet where the room is both a living and sleeping
room; and 250 cubic feet per person under 10—this being the
standard fixed in the local byelaws for houses let in lodgings.
During the year a new standard of overcrowding came into
operation, so that a family is now considered to be overcrowded
if the total accommodation, after allowing one room as a living
room, in addition to the necessary bedroom accommodation, does
not provide floor area for each member of the family of 40 square
feet for persons over 5 years and 30 square feet for persons under
5 years, or the accommodation does not permit of the sexes being
properly divided.
212 families occupied these 124 houses and 141 or 66.5 per
cent. of these families were found to be overcrowded. In 76
houses of the 124 houses it was found possible to abate overcrowding
without producing corresponding overcrowding elsewhere.
141 notices were served to abate overcrowding.