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104
HOUSING
During the year seven properties were made the subject of Closing
Orders pursuant to Sections 16, 17 or 18 of the Housing Act, 1957 (an
Order under the latter section relates to a part of a building only), and
over the same period, five properties were reported to the Committee for
action pursuant to these Sections.
The number of unfit properties demolished during the year was
eleven, and four properties the subject of Closing Orders were reconditioned
and the Orders lifted.
The number of families rehoused by the Council from dwellings in
respect of which action under the Housing Acts has been taken was
fifteen.
Housing Standards
"Harrow today, by comparison with the conditions that exist in many
Boroughs, has no problem, either as regards statutory overcrowding or
the unfit dwelling". These words appeared in the Annual Report for 1967
and while, by reason of ageing and normal wastage, there will always be a
number of dwellings falling to be dealt with under the Closing Order
provisions of the Housing Act, unfit dwellings are not likely, at least in the
foreseeable future, to involve the Council in any major Clearance or
Rehousing Schemes.
No doubt housing standards will continue to rise, and, at both
national and local level, strenuous efforts are made to encourage owners to
undertake the improvement and modernisation of properties and, to this
end, grants are available for such facilities as hot water, a bath, a wash
basin and an internal water closet.
While few owners have found the grants sufficiently attractive for
them to incur the expenditure involved in providing these facilities for
tenants, a number of owner-occupiers have done so and in many of these
cases (often following owners selling to sitting tenants) properties have
been transformed from a drab unit of accommodation into warm, bright
and lively homes.
At the same time an increasing number of properties are deteriorating
in what are often described as "twilight areas". These are areas which for
one reason or another are scheduled to be redeveloped. Uncertainty as to
when or how redevelopment will materialise makes progress almost
impossible and, in consequence, things deteriorate. While this is inevitable,
it is a sad thought today, thirty-eight years after the Housing Act of
1930, which it was hoped would result in the slums of the country being
cleared away, that so many remain. Even in Harrow there are properties
which were represented for action under the Clearance provisions of the
Housing Acts some fifteen years ago that are still occupied.