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No. 16, Marlborough Hill was the subject of a Demolition Order in
1943. Against this an appeal was lodged and after many delays was
finally dismissed and the house subsequently demolished.
Inspection of Houses.
One hundred and nine surveys were carried out and certificates
issued under Section 157 of the 1936 Housing Act. The number of
certificates issued is now 10,367.
Overcrowding.
The position in regard to crowding is that at the end of the year,
141 houses were known to be statutorily overcrowded. Of these one was
overcrowded by 7 units, two by 5, three by 4, two by 3½, seven by 3,
eleven by 2½, fifteen by 2, twenty-four by 1½ thirty-five by 1, and
forty-one by ½ unit.
Rehousing.
During the war, local authorities had been given power to requisition
properties for a variety of purposes. Circular 2845 of the Ministry of
Health, issued in August, 1943, authorised the release of houses which
had been requisitioned for the housing of bombed-out persons, for the
use of families inadequately housed, the guiding principles in the allocation
being those considerations governing the selection of tenants for houses
on municipal housing estates, namely, persons occupying insanitary or
overcrowded houses, large families or those living in insanitary housing
conditions. Since the termination of hostilities many properties requisitioned
for one purpose have now been released, and of these some have
been added to the pool available for the accommodation of those unsatisfactorily
housed.
This was, up to the end of the year, the only accommodation controlled
by the Council available except for the small number of temporary
houses which were made ready for occupation.
For the selection of tenants for houses as they became available,
the Council adopted a points system, factors taken into consideration
being the number in family, the accommodation available to the family
at the time of application, the period of residence, etc. A separate list
was compiled of applicants who were in or had been in the Services. It
was also decided that the Committee would give special consideration
to the following classes of applicants in cases recommended by the
Medical Officer of Health :—
(i) Families, one or more of whose members is or are suffering from
tuberculosis. (ii) Families living in overcrowded conditions. (iii) Families
requiring to be rehoused as a result of operative Clearance Orders.
(iv) Families living in houses subject to operative Demolition Orders.
All in these categories were communicated with, and of the 126 forms
sent out, 83 were returned. The list was added to and by the end of the
year reached 177. Before the end of 1945, 10 of these families had been
rehoused, 2 in prefabricated houses and 8 in requisitioned accommodation.