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Local Authority re-housing overcrowded families in Council
houses whenever suitable vacancies occurred.
Of the eighty-three cases remaining at the end of the year,
twenty-five families were overcrowded to the extent of only
half a unit (child under ten years), and twenty-one others by
only one unit.
Two new cases of overcrowding were reported during 1938.
Both were abated before the end of the year.
The Minister of Health, by an Order dated 26th June,
1936, fixed the 1st July, 1936, as the "appointed day" for
Wimbledon for the purposes of Section 62 of the Housing Act,
1936.
The effect of this was to require that by the 1st January,
1937, every rent book used in relation to a "dwelling house"
should contain a summary in the prescribed form of certain
provisions of the Act, and a statement of the permitted
number of persons who could occupy the house without
causing it to be overcrowded.
Overcrowding occurring after 1st January, 19'37, with
certain exceptions, thus becomes an offence.
Up to 31st December, 1938, three thousand seven hundred
and sixty-eight certificates as to "permitted numbers" had
been issued by the Department to owners or agents of properties
in the Borough. Three hundred and seventy-three of these
were issued during 1938, and necessitated measurements being
carried out in one hundred and ninety-three houses.
Each applicant was also supplied with a summary of the
provisions of the Act as to overcrowding. The provisions of the
Act, and information as to the "appointed days," were widely
published throughout the district and in the local press in 1936.
(b) HOUSING CONDITIONS.
Fifty-four houses and two hundred and ninety-nine flats
were erected by private enterprise during 1938; in addition,
seven houses were converted into nineteen flats.
According to the Registrar-General's estimate for the
middle of 1938, the population in Wimbledon was 58,680 as
compared with 58,440 in 1937.
As has been previously stated, there is an absence of
suitable building sites in Wimbledon for the erection of houses
for persons of smaller means.
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