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74
tenants vacated the room before the closing order was made the room could
be relet and the procedure for the closing of that room would have to be
started anew. Again, there is nothing to prevent the letting of a room for
sleeping purposes which is used at the present time as a living room or which
is empty, or which is used as a store.
It would be of great help if it could be enacted that all underground rooms
which do not comply with the Regulations, could be closed for sleeping purposes
whether occupied or not at the time for such purposes. The Council could
then close for sleeping purposes all underground rooms which do not comply
with the Regulations. It will be seen from the survey figures that there are
8,419 underground rooms in Stepney which do not comply with those
Regulations; of these, 7,721 are not used for sleeping. Under this suggested
enactment the Council could at once proceed to close for sleeping purposes all
these 7,721 rooms and by that action could ensure that they will never be used
for, or converted into, sleeping quarters. With regard to the 698 rooms which
are at present used for sleeping, the Council will steadily take the necessary
action as and when alternative re-housing accommodation becomes available.
Unless there is legislation on the lines suggested, it would appear that
there are no powers to prevent any of the above 7,721 rooms being let for
sleeping purposes, and unless the above 698 rooms are occupied for sleeping
at the time the closing order is made, no legal action can be taken.
It will be generally agreed that rooms which are unfit to sleep in should
be considered to be unfit to live in. If it is unhealthy to live in these rooms
at night, it is equally unhealthy to live in them during the day, especially for
those who spend most of their day in these rooms. Could it not be argued,
therefore, that no underground room should be used for living or sleeping
purposes, if it does not comply with the Regulations?
In a Borough like Stepney, with its housing difficulties, such enactment
would give rise to a serious problem for it would entail the additional closing
of 5,461 rooms (at present used for living purposes), together with the closing
for living purposes of the above 698 rooms which should be closed for sleeping
purposes. This would entail the necessity of rehousing the families which
would be displaced as a result of closing these 6,159 rooms. Taking, as an
average, an occupation of two underground rooms per family, it might entail
the rehousing of anything up to 3,000 families. It would be impossible to
consider this problem as a separate entity at the present moment. Luckily
there is no necessity to consider it as a separate entity, for the great majority
of such underground rooms will be dealt with under Slum Clearance Schemes.