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21
V.—HOUSING.
A statistical table appears in the appendix (XIV.).
At the Census, 1921, there were 7,400 dwellings and
8,400 separate occupiers. The average number of rooms per
person was 1.32, and the number of families per dwelling
was 1.14.
Sinoe the 1921 Census, during which time the population
has increased by 470 persons, 647 houses have been erected
and 10 demolished. On this basis we should soon
overtake our overcrowding in Bromley, but there is another
side of the problem. An investigation into the housing condition
of the babies under 1 year visited during the years
1922, 1923 and 1925, showed that whereas in 1922, 5 percent,
of these families were living in one room, by 1925
the percentage had increased to 10 per cent. Again,
in 1901, 2 per cent. of the population lived in
one-room dwellings, in 1921 the percentage increased
to 4 per cent. Much has been done and much is being done
to combat this evil of the one-room family. Probably noother
country in the world has done so much as England
to combat this evil. Bromley is playing its part in this, and
will, I trust, continue to fight for one of the fundamentals of a
healthy population—a sanitary house for each family.
Since the Council undertook a Housing Scheme, 186
houses have been erected and occupied; these houses are all
that could be desired as modern working-class dwellings,
but the taking in of sub-tenants is defeating the object of
the scheme.
Private enterprise during 1925 completed 136 houses, and
a distinct word of commendation is due to Bromley Tenants
Ltd. for their housing scheme in Southlands Road.