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109
Houses Required.
It should be noted that the Council are not bound to provide accommodation for overcrowded
families or for families displaced from basement dwellings or attics but it will be realised that in the
absence of such accommodation for these persons existing conditions will not be materially improved
for a long time to come.
In this connection a duty periodically to review housing conditions in their area and to frame
proposals is laid upon the local authority by Section 71 of the Housing Act, 1936, which is as follows:—
"It shall be the duty of every local authority to consider the housing conditions in their
district and the needs of the district with respect to the provision of further housing accommodation
for the working classes and for that purpose to review the information which has been brought to
their notice, either as a result of inspections and surveys carried out under section 5 of this Act
or otherwise, and as often as occasion arises, or within three months after notice has been given
to them by the Minister to prepare and submit to the Minister proposals for the provision of
new houses for the working classes, distinguishing those houses which the authority propose to
provide for the purpose of rendering accommodation available for persons to be displaced by, or
in consequence of, action taken by the authority under this Act."
The preliminary overcrowding survey revealed 1,845 cases of overcrowding and on further
investigation and measurement of houses 581 more cases were discovered, making a total of 2,426
families overcrowded. The present position is that out of the 2,526 known cases of overcrowding,
671 cases have been abated by reason of (a) reduction in size of family, (b) increased accommodation
found by the family, and (c) families having removed from the district; 183 overcrowded families
have been rehoused by the Council, leaving so far as is known, 1,572 families still overcrowded.
It seems that it would be desirable on the part of the Council to consider the provision of houses
so that the overcrowding in the aforementioned 1,591 families may be abated as quickly as possible
and ejected basement and attic dwellers may be given homes to which to go. This, of course, is a
considerable task.
Reconditioning.
Routine house-to-house inspection has been carried on for a number of years and the total
number of houses inspected each year is about 1,200. As a result of such inspection these houses
are reconditioned at a cost to the owner of anything from £20 to £300.
Reconditioning includes making basement rooms to comply with the Regulations where practicable,
the addition of one or more waterclosets to serve the upper floor in sublet houses, the addition
of one or more sinks with water supply to serve the upper floors and in a number of cases the entire
stripping and relaying of roofs. It also comprises such works as the extensive renewal of decayed
or perished plaster, the removal of gutters and downspouts, the repointing and in some cases the
rebuilding of brickwork, the retreading of stair treads, the renewing of floor boards, the renewal of
wooden and stone sills, stripping, making good and distempering walls, washing and whitening
ceilings, renewal of stoves, sash cords, locks, etc.
It must be remembered that whatever reconditioning or repair work is done, its durability is
dependent on two factors, firstly, the class of workmanship and secondly, the usage to which the
premises are subjected. Every effort is made to obtain a high standard of workmanship but where
there is abnormal wear and tear of the property because of overcrowding or other reasons, the owner
not unnaturally becomes discouraged or even wroth. So that whilst streets of houses have been
reconditioned at considerable expense, it is found that some streets require reconditioning often within
a period of four or five years, whereas similar work in other streets will last seven, eight or ten years.
Staff.
Mr. Frank Sheriff, who is a Sanitary Inspector and has been employed on the indoor staff
for a number of years on account of deafness, retires on 9th May, 1938. In anticipation of his retirement,
provision has been made in the estimates to replace him by a second-class clerk and a shorthand typist
to carry out the work he has hitherto been doing and to cope with the increased work arising out
of the increased inspectorial staff from 9 to 13 during the past 4½ years.
GEORGE F. BUCHAN,
Medical Officer of health.