London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Harrow 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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The following table sets out the progress of overcrowding abatement since the official survey :—
| No. of premises overcrowded on Jan. 1st. | Council houses granted. | Transferred to larger Council house. | Overcrowding otherwise abated. | No. of premises overcrowded on Dec.-31st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overcrowded houses :— | |||||
| 1936 | 152 | 11 | - | 47 | 94 |
| 1937 | 94 | 9 | 4 | 49 | 32 |
| 1938 | 32 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 7 |
| Review cases :— | |||||
| 1936 | 35 | 4 | — | 4 | 27 |
| 1937 | 27 | 5 | — | 11 | 11 |
| 1938 | 11 | — | — | 10 | 1 |
| Additional 1937:— | |||||
| 1937 | 53 | 14 | — | 21 | 18 |
| 1938 | 18 | 9 | — | 7 | 2 |
| Additional 1938:— | |||||
| 1938 | 51 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 21 |
| Total overcrowding at end of 1938 | 31 | ||||
It will be seen from the above table that the 31 cases of
overcrowding at the end of the year are made up of seven from
the original survey, of one review case and of 23 cases of overcrowding
found during 1937 and 1938.
Of these 31 premises, two houses are included in Clearance
Areas, three are owner-occupied, the occupants of six will be
granted Council houses, and of one a larger Council house, and
one family will be transferred into a house of another Authority.
One of the cases previously overcrowded in a Council house moved
to another address where he is also overcrowded. In one other
case the family were requested to make formal application for a
Council house and failed to do so. In other cases where overcrowding
has been discovered to have occurred since the appointed
day, either by reason of the taking in of lodgers or a house being
let so as to be overcrowded, notices have been served on the persons
causing the overcrowding.
Council Housing.
By September the 46 new houses erected on the Glebe Estate
were occupied, 30 by families displaced by slum clearance
procedure, nine by families which were overcrowded in their
previous homes and seven by ordinary applicants. Of the 68
houses on the Berridge Estate, 40 were used to accommodate
ordinary applicants, nine families from slum clearance areas and
19 families formerly in overcrowded premises.