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100
meet the housing requirements of the whole of the persons
who will be attracted to North Woolwich by the Dock construction.
It appears to me, therefore, that having regard to all the
circumstances, it is decidedly necessary that the Port Authority
should re-house the persons displaced by the proposed
demolitions, and that a considerable part, if not the whole,
of such re-housing should take place before the old houses
are demolished.
The new houses should be in North Woolwich, or as near
to it as possible, for it is to be presumed that the majority
of workers living in the houses to be demolished do so in
order to be near their work, and cannot conveniently live
much farther away.
Twice within recent years the Borough Council have
consented not to press for re-housing of persons displaced
under similar circumstances, and I have agreed that there
was no necessity for such re-housing, as there were at that
time, and in the near neighbourhood, a large number of
unoccupied houses. The condition of things now is quite
different, and the hardship on many workers will certainly
be very great if no new provision of houses is made.
31. Council's Houses. All the Council's 25 houses in
North Woolwich were occupied throughout the year, with the
exception of four ; one was vacant for two weeks, and three
for one week. The number of persons housed is about 130,
or 5 to a house. For particulars as to rent and cubic space
of these houses see Annual Report, 1904, page 70.