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that, amongst the persons displaced, there are those who
must live in the immediate neighborhood,' so as to be near
their work, which may be of a casual or irregular kind, or
for other equally cogent reasons, and they necessarily tend
to still more crowd and overcrowd, and So perpetuate all the
evils (sanitary and moral) attendant thereon. As houses
become scarce, rents increase, and over-crowding, consequently,
results from the sub-letting of rooms. In this way,
the difficulty is not overcome, but simply transferred from
one district to another, or from one house to another, and
so the continuity of the vicious circle is ensured. In view of
the well-known fact that, in the Inner Wards of Lambeth,
house accommodation (good or bad) for the poorer classes
is already scarce, the Council would be advised to pause
before deciding to take steps with a view to closing an area
or areas, thereby accentuating the housing difficulty.
The method adopted in Lambeth, and approved by the late
Vestry on January 18th, 1900 (vide Minutes 1900, p. 22),
has been to deal with houses, singly or in the form of courts
or streets, and condemn them, as required, under Part II. of
the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, as unfit for
human habitation, on account of the premises being dirty,
damp, dilapidated, badly constructed, ill planned, defective
in drains and sanitary appliances, insufficiently provided with
water or w.c. accommodation, deficient in light and ventilation,
generally worn out, etc. Displacement of persons has
been, in this way, avoided.
The result of these condemnations has been that the
houses in question have been put into proper order and condition
to the satisfaction of the Lambeth Sanitary Authority.
In a few instances, the conditions found have been such that
the houses could not be rendered fit for human habitation;
they have been, consequently, closed and demolished, e.g.,
Chartley Place, Lower Marsh (II houses); Commercial
Buildings, Belvedere Road (10 houses); Fountain, Francis
and Paved Cou-'ts, Lambeth Walk (27 houses); Le Grand
Place, Waterloo Road (24 houses); Isabella Row, Whitehart
Street (10 houses); Windmill Court, New Cut (3 houses);
Queen's Place, Newburn Street (6 houses); Eden Cottages,
St. Gothard's Road, West Norwood (2 houses); Park Cottages,
New Park Road (2 houses); 101-103 Lambeth Road
(2 houses); etc., etc.