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36
Number of Slum Houses in Leyton.
In our joint report of last year we expressed the opinion that there
were then about 1,000 Category "A" {i.e., " slum ") houses in Leyton, and
that there were then many more whose type and condition were such as to
justify them being regarded as "border line cases" in respect of their fitness
for human habitation.
Statutory Duties—Old and New.
Section 1 of the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, requires local
authorities to submit to the Minister of Housing and Local Government by
30th August, 1955, proposals for dealing with houses in their district which
appear to be unfit for human habitation and with any other houses which
they consider should be included in clearance areas.
This specified duty carries with it the implied duty of making a housing
survey, or at least a reasonably accurate assessment of the number of unfit
houses.
These duties are not really new, for local authorities are already required
by Section 5 of the Housing Act, 1936, to cause an inspection of their district
to be made from time to time in order to ascertain whether any house therein
is unfit for human habitation. Local authorities were also required by the
Act of 1936 to see that unfit houses were repaired, demolished or closed.
Just prior to the outbreak of war your sanitary inspectors were engaged
in a preliminary survey of the Borough for the purpose of determining what
areas might be represented as "clearance areas" at a later date, and as the
result of that preliminary survey it was considered that in several areas in the
district the most satisfactory method of dealing with the conditions would be
the demolition of all the buildings in these areas. Even before the war a
considerable proportion of dwellings in the Borough had ceased to comply
with modern standards, and had reached the stage when the reconditioning
of the premises appeared to be inadvisable. But in September, 1939, the
Minister of Health instructed local authorities to defer during war time the
carrying out of schemes of slum clearance and to postpone the demolition of
unfit houses.
In November, 1944, your Medical Officer of Health submitted a special
report on post-war policy for dealing with the repair, demolition or closing of
individual unsanitary premises and with clearance areas. At that time he
called special attention to the need to provide alternative accommodation for
de-housed families before clearance areas could be dealt with, and to the
need for correlating the functions and co-ordinating the work of the different
committees and their officers dealing with different aspects of the same
(housing) problem in the area.
The Government has decided that the time has now arrived when more
attention must be given to the nation's stock of existing houses, and the
new Act facilitates the exercise by your Council of its statutory responsibilities
for the clearance and replacement of slum houses, the enforcement of essential
repairs, and the encouragement of improvements and conversions.