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45
Since the war, Local Authorities have had to concentrate
upon the building of houses to meet shortage, but no effective
measures have been taken to counteract the many evils that have
arisen which were daily accentuating the growth of new slums.
The evils I refer to are those caused by:—
(a) Sub-letting—or the occupation by several families of
one dwelling house—frequently causing acute overcrowding—sanitary
defects and disrepair ; and
(b) The use of underground sleeping rooms and cellar
dwellings—frequently found to be dark, damp and
unfit for habitation.
Owing to the lack of good housing accommodation and the
rents charged for decontrolled houses, many working class families
have been compelled to live and sleep in one or two rooms, having
to pay exorbitant rent for such inadequate accommodation.
Overcrowding became rife and owing to the lack of provision of
additional water supply, sinks, sanitary accommodation and
facilities for the proper cooking and storage of food, harmonious
relations between the respective families can rarely be preserved,
quarrels frequently arise between tenants and sub-tenants, making
life a burden, particularly for those unfortunate women who are
endeavouring to rear young children and who have nothing more
than one room at their disposal.
A very careful and detailed survey was undertaken by the
Chief Sanitary Inspector of several streets in the Richmond Hill
Area, consisting of old basement houses. In almost every road, in
the best residential part of the district, some of such houses had
been sub-let, particularly those where the lease had only a few
more years to run and which had been acquired for a small sum
by persons residing outside the district. These properties had
without any alteration or adaption been let off into tenements, the
basement rooms frequently found to be dark and damp and to be
illegally occupied as cellar dwellings.