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105
HOUSING
Further progress has been made in housing work during the year,
especially with regard, to works at houses in multiple occupation, and
in dealing with unfit dwellings.
It is pleasing to record appreciation due to the Housing- Committee
and the Chief Housing Officer for their ready co-operation in rehousing
occupants of individual unfit dwellingse
During the year 1574 visits have been made to houses in multiple
occupation in connection with the standard code of requirements adopted
by the Council® It has been necessary to serve 156 informal and twentysix
Statutory Notices upon owners requiring works to comply with the
Code® There are no common lodging houses in the Borougho
The major effort has continued to be in the . repair' and improvement
of dwellings® In the latter part of the year a. fresh impetus was injected
into improvement with the passing of the Housing Act 1969? which
in an endeavour to make them even more attractive increased the maximum
amount of grant and varied the conditions under which and subject to
which they may be given„
Twelve hundred houses in the Borough have been improved since the
system was introduced in 1949 and many others improved without grant
assistance and yet it is estimated that in the Borough there are 2300
homes suitable for improvement still lacking the basic amenities of:-
A fixed bath or shower in a bathroom.
A hot and cold water supply at a fixed bath or shower.
A wash-hand basin
A hot and ©old water supply at a wash-hand basin®
A sink®
A hot and cold water supply at a sink®
A water closet ia and accessible from within the dwelling,
and the Council is prepared to make generous grants for those owners
wishing to improve or modernise their homes in the form of Standard or
Discretionary Improvement Grants®
The scheme of improving older houses relates essentially to providing
those standard amenities which are absent® An improvement grant
may also be paid towards the cost of providing (by means of an approved
method) a. damp-proof course; for improving inadequate natural lighting
or ventilation and for providing adequate facilities for heating where
it does not exist, and in certain cases the Council may allow grant towards
approved repairs and replacements.