London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Chingford 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Chingford]
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32
Special Report to Council.
A special Report was made to the Council in June on the
extent of subletting in South Chingford. This report was based
on an analysis of the Housing Act, 1936, Survey Forms relating
to 5,213 houses and showed that of these 12 per cent. were sublet
as flats, at rents varying between 15s. and 18s. a week.
The results of an analysis of the occupants in 200 of these
sublet houses is given in the following table.
200 Sublet Houses (400 flats) in South Chingford. Analysis of Occupants.
| Actual No. of Children. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Married couples without children | 166 | 41.5% | 0 |
| „ „ with one child | 135 | 33.75% | 135 |
| „ „ with two children | 50 | 12.5% | 100 |
| „ „ with three children | 20 | 5.0% | 60 |
| „ „ with four children | 5 | 1.25% | 20 |
| Single persons | 14 | 3.5% | 0 |
| Adults only | 4 | 1.0% | 0 |
| Unoccupied flats | 6 | 1.5% | 0 |
| 400 | 315 | ||
The importance of subletting rests mainly on the fact that
these houses were in most cases designed and built to accommodate
one family and that when turned into flats they present
several undesirable features. Children require space and air,
but in many cases the occupants of the top floor have no access
to the garden of the house and, for the young mother with a
baby, a bathroom and W.C. shared with the family below may
be a serious source of inconvenience. Moreover, in some of the
small flats the gas-cooker is placed on the landing, an arrangement
hardly conducive to harmonious family life.
As will be seen from the table, most of the families occupying
these flats are small, which seems to provide an argument
for the building of the small two-bedroom type of house which
could be let to young married couples on the understanding that
they would be required to move when the children reached a
certain age or increased in number beyond two.