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44
Housing.
Housing conditions are improving as a result of the policy of
the Council, which is to re-house those people whose houses have
been closed as unfit, or found to be overcrowded. Up to the end of
the year the Council have built in all 745 houses for letting
purposes.
At the same time, progress has been made with building houses
for sale. The total number purchased during the year under
the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act was 108, and the total amount
of loans under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act up to the end
of 1931 was £2,998,245.
Despite a slight easing of the problem, there is still great difficulty
with regard to accommodation in the case of a family with
small children.
I repeat what I said last year with regard to the necessity of
purchasing a house in order to find accommodation; people are
purchasing houses, the weekly re-payments of which are far beyond
the limit which their means justify. One comes across cases where
the amount of the re-payments, which of course stand in the place
of rent, are as high as 46 per cent, of the total earnings. What is
going to happen to these houses when repairs become necessary,
one scarcely likes to contemplate. All this is bad enough where
the occupier is in regular work, but one repeatedly comes across
cases where, after having entered into obligations of this kind, work
fails, and then the plight of these harassed people vainly endeavouring
to make the ever-widening ends meet is deplorable.
Moreover I find in a number of cases the huge amount drained
from the income to pay the rent, is seriously affecting the nutrition
of the family, especially the mothers and children, by reason of the
lessened amount available.
In addition there is still the unsolved difficulty of the old folks.
There is only one solution in my opinion, which is the provision
of little groups of small houses surrounding a paved close providing