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22
Re-Housing—Medical Aspects.
My advice was sought during the year on some 155 housing applications
respecting which medical recommendations for priority had been
submitted by hospitals or private practitioners.
As against several years ago the picture in this connection has
changed very greatly, coincident with the betterment of housing
conditions generally throughout the district It is relatively seldom now
that one finds a case in which the purely medical aspects are so outstanding
as to demand unusual priority.
Overcrowding.
The overall housing position still does not appear to warrant making
any especial detailed investigation into the overcrowding circumstances
of the district. It is, however, becoming more practicable to discourage
individual house overcrowding where full investigation into the circumstances
establish that no very good or practical reason exists for
permitting the overcrowding and where the overcrowding appears likely
to be of a more or less permanent nature with the attendant danger
that a single bad case of overcrowding allowed to persist without
comment may well encourage a succession of other equally unsatisfactory
extensions.
Caravans.
The large individual site noted in last year's report at Rainham
still persists and provides an emphatic answer to any misconceptions
that what a Local Authority doesn't like it metaphorically waves a
wand and makes disappear.
Land Charges Enquiries.
During the year 4,003 land charges enquiries were referred to the
department regarding the question of outstanding sanitary notices and
Certificates of Disrepair.
This is one of the routine unpublicised but time-consuming occupations
of the department.
Temporary Accommodation.
The general development of the district has now got to the stage
of embracing "in-filling" as the number of substantial plots of land
available for development dwindles steadily. This situation has of course
its repercussions on the week-end bungalow type of accommodation
since development of a modern nature provides an alternative and even
more attractive proposition than the mere ownership of what may be
little more than a shack. To some extent circumstances have been in
our favour in our efforts to rid the district of this temporary sub-standard
accommodation and the overall situation in the post-war years has
shown a steady improvement.