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24
I am aften inundated with phone calls, messages and reproachful
remarks from their neighbours, doctors, landlords and other interested
persons. It is difficult to convince people that compulsory
action is not easy. It is even more difficult to convince them that
it is not desirable that it should be made easier. Also there is a
wide variety of opinion as to what constitutes insanitary conditions.
Hands are held up in horror at unwashed crockery, uncleaned windows,
ashes left to accumulate on the hearth, and a garden full of
weeds and someone telephones me to say that "Mrs. Smith is lazy",
"is living in filth and squalor" and should be "removed". It is a
pity that few critics offer to lend a helping hand.
It is not always realised that an old age pensioner without
capital and obliged to seek a supplementary grant from the National
Assistance Board has no money with which to purchase modern
household equipment and such things as detergents, disinfectants,
furniture polish, etc.; critics of thehome helps who make such remarks
as "goodness knows what she does with the time she spends there"
should try substituting a dustpan and brush, a worn broom, and a
ragged floor cloth for their vacuum cleaner, and a kettle full of
water boiled on a gas ring for their constant hot water supply.
Of course it takes twice as long to do each task under such circumstances
and without modem appliances and the results are
bound to be disappointing, but many old people would rather put
up with the inconveniences of their large, draughty, shabby and
ill equipped homes than enter Part 3 accommodation. Most would
willingly surrender their accommodation for a council flatlet or for
some sort of partially communal establishment where they could have
a bedroom furnished with their own possessions to which they could
withdraw if they wished, and I am convinced that we should aim at
providing more such accommodation.
I dealt with 99 cases of persons wishing to find more suitable
accommodation .Some of these were visited ion behalf of the Housing
Office. Others were not eligible to apply for council housing because
they were adequately housed, or were the owners of the property
in which they were residing. Many were in houses which they
can no longer afford to keep in a satisfactory state of repair, and
dampness, broken fireplaces, and hot water systems which no
longer function make life a misery in all but the mildest, driest
weather. A great deal of my time is spent iVi interviewing persons
whose names are already on the housing list and whom ( cannot
convince that 1 have not some magic powers with regard to accommodation.
About one third of the persons interviewed during the year
came to ask me to expedite their rehousing .Many of these persons