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72
The Wider Spectrum of Housing
The supervision of food supplies is only one of the Department's
many duties, albeit of great importance.
To the environmentalist the provision of "shelter" in accord
with modern requirements is another fundamental necessity for
healthy living. Here, again, the Public Health Inspector is the
official primarily concerned.
There are many ways open to the Inspector for dealing with
such privately owned housing stock of the Borough as may fall
short of certain requirements.
If a group of houses become unfit for human habitation and
it is thought that the best way of dealing with them is by the
clearance of the whole area there are procedures, with suitable
safeguards for owners, whereby this can be brought about. This
is the process known as Slum Clearance. Like all other housing
work it commences with a detailed survey and assessment of the
property. Subsequently it may involve the holding of an enquiry
by an Inspector from the Department of the Environment. A year
or two may elapse before the site is cleared.
The Health Department has a Four Year Slum Clearance
Programme and the appropriate houses were dealt with in 1970
details of which are given in the body of the report.
Some houses which are unfit for human occupation do not lie
in groups. These are dealt with as "individual unfit houses".
Again, after inspection and legal procedures the owner may be required
to close or demolish the properties. A similar process is open
to the Council to close only a part of a dwelling when the rest of
the house is not unfit. This system is frequently used to bring about
the vacation of damp basement rooms. In all these cases the
Council's policy is to rehouse the displaced tenants.
Not all unfit houses are so defective that suitable repairs
cannot raise them to a reasonable standard. Such properties can
be dealt with as defective houses under the Housing Acts, in
which case the owner is required to remedy the defects. Alternatively,
they may be found to constitute a "nuisance" when remedy
lies in the Public Health Acts. In practice this latter system is
especially useful for relatively minor defects and is much used. In
both cases, failure by an owner to carry out the necessary works
can ultimately lead to legal proceedings and as a final resort the
Council may step in and carry out the work at the owner's expense.
It is, in fact, very rarely necessary to proceed so far, but whichever
method is selected a lengthy period may elapse before the
defect is remedied especially if the owner is unwilling.
A new weapon has been added to the Inspectors' armoury
in his endeavour to raise property to a reasonable standard of
amenity and repair, having regard to the age, character and