London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Ealing 1932
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ealing]
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53
HOUSING.
Compared with most districts there is no serious housing
problem in Ealing. There are undoubtedly many instances of
families living under adverse circumstances associated with overcrowding,
and many instances of extortionate rents being charged
for very inadequate accommodation. The main demand is for
small houses at the lowest practicable rent which the workers
with small incomes can afford to pay.
The Census figures for 1931 give most interesting information
regarding the housing conditions compared with the previous
Census in 1921.
The most important figures relating to housing given in the Census returns are set out below:—
| 1931 | 1921 | |
|---|---|---|
| * Private families | 31,412 | 21,801 |
| Population embraced | 113,164 | 85,560 |
| †Structurally separate dwellings | 26,717 | 18,497 |
| Number of Rooms | 153,122 | 111,282 |
| Persons per room | 0.74 | 0.78 |
| Number of vacant dwellings | 943 | 628 |
* Private family.—Any person or group of persons in separate occupation
of any premises or part of premises.
† Structurally separate dwelling.—Any room or set of rooms intended or
used for habitation, having separate access either to the street or to a common
landing or staircase.
With such large numerical increases better comparisons are
afforded by averages. The average size of the private families
is 3.60 which shows a striking decrease compared with the corresponding
figure for 1921, which was 3.92. There was an increase
of 44 per cent. in the number of families while the increase in the
number of separate dwellings was also 44 per cent. The proportion
of the population living more than one family to a dwelling therefore
continues much about the same. The Census returns for 1931
show that 3,520 separate dwellings were occupied by two families,
and 510 separate dwellings were occupied by 3 or more families.