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It will be noted that, of the 34,720 households in the Borough, 23,215
(67 per cent.) are without the exclusive use of a fixed bath. Of these, some
17,684 households have no bath at all in their homes. Many thousands of
households have to share with other families the water supply, kitchen sink,
cooking stove and water closet; and it is clear that there is much to be done
to bring within the reach of all households the basic amenities of domestic
life.
It is one of the anomalies of our time that, in spite of the great progress
made in environmental hygiene since these houses were built some 50 to
80 years ago, the present occupants enjoy no higher a standard of domestic
hygiene than did their forefathers. The scullery sink with cold water is still
the only water supply available for domestic purposes, including bodily
cleansing, and in 3,990 Leyton households even the kitchen sink has to be
shared by two or more families.
Grants for Improvements and Conversions.
The Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, amends certain provisions
contained in Part II of the Housing Act, 1949, which empowered local
authorities to deal with this part of the housing problem by making money
grants to private owners in order to promote modernisation of structurally
sound houses, and amendments are designed to accelerate and simplify
procedure.
In recent Circulars the Minister of Housing and Local Government
urges local authorities to do everything possible to encourage owners to
apply for these grants. This should be accepted as sound advice, for by this
means existing houses can be provided with such amenities as bathrooms,
hot water systems, indoor sanitation, improved heating and cooking
appliances, and so can be made to approximate to the standard of new houses
at comparatively small cost to the local authority. When compared with the
cost of providing equivalent accommodation in new houses (about £2,000
per house), expenditure on improvement grants to owners is obviously a
sound financial investment. It is also a sound health investment, but the
benefit to the health and comfort of occupants of houses modernised in this
way does not lend itself to measurement.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
In spite of the new procedure of deferred demolition there are bound to
be many cases in which houses are beyond any sort of treatment short of
demolition. The competing claims on available new housing—the immediate