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108
ations contained in the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on these
Acts are applied to conditions obtaining in this Borough.
At least 90 per cent of the dwelling houses in Shoreditch are controlled
houses, and the rents of these are very much less than those of decontrolled
houses containing similar accommodation. Cases have come to notice in
which the rent of a house has been doubled upon its becoming decontrolled.
The fact that a large number of the persons in the Borough living under overcrowded
and otherwise unsatisfactory conditions are paying much smaller
rents than they would be called upon to pay if they were to move, clearly
acts as a deterrent to that filtering upwards into better accommodation, which
was one of the results anticipated from the great building activity since the
War. (More than one and a half million new houses have been built in
England and Wales since the War.)
The poorly paid worker in Shoreditch is, moreover, under a special difficulty
if he tries to move into the outskirts of London. In doing so he will
have to meet not only an increase in rent but a considerable weekly expense
in the form of fares for the working members of the family between their new
home and their place of employment. Case after case has come to notice in
which families living under deplorable conditions have been unable to accept
offers of accommodation otherwise desirable for the reason that the increased
rent plus the cost of travel was beyond their resources.
This Council has long recognized the importance of this factor, and in
November, 1928, the following resolution was passed:—
"(1) That the Council do request the Minister of Health to explore the
possibility of abating overcrowding by the means of granting free
or assisted facilities for travelling to wage earners, to and from their
work who are recommended by the Sanitary Authority for such
assistance; and
"(2) That a copy of the foregoing resolution be sent to the Metropolitan
and County Borough Councils requesting them to support the
same."
The importance of this added difficulty peculiar to Shoreditch, and other
built up urban areas, was insisted upon by the Housing Committee as a result
of their recent review of the housing situation in the Borough, and at their
meeting on 16th February, 1932, the Council reaffirmed the foregoing
resolution.
The more the problem of housing in Shoreditch is considered, the more
clearly it is seen that until some such scheme as that suggested in this resolution
is in operation, a very large number of poorly paid workers will inevitably
be compelled to continue to live under bad conditions in worn out houses,
and their children to suffer the ill-effects of an inadequate allowance of fresh
air, sunlight and open space for exercise and recreation.
Legislation since the war, though it has doubtless prevented even greater
evils, has certainly tended to give permanence to the generally bad housing
conditions prevailing in this Borough, in that it has prevented the demolition