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37
SECTION D.
HOUSING.
The provision of suitable housing accommodation for the
working-classes is still one of the most important problems with
which the Borough Council has to deal. In spite of the fact that
there are 1,548 houses and flats now in the ownership of the
Council, still greater efforts are necessary to deal adequately
with the situation. From the statistics appended it will be
observed that at the end of the year there were still 183 families
living under overcrowded conditions and unfortunately many
of these are large families. These families and those from
Clearance Areas of course claim priority in the matter of Council
housing accommodation, but in addition there are a very large
number of applications from what may be termed "borderline"
cases of overcrowding and other families to be dealt with
as and when accommodation becomes available. One of the
greatest difficulties to be faced in dealing with this question is,
of course, due to the fact that the Borough is largely a built-up
area, and consequently there is very little building land available
and such as is available and suitable commands a high value.
During the past year, however, the Council have lost no
single opportunity in securing possible sites, and at the time of
writing have such schemes in hand as will at least enable
them to fulfil their legal obligations in the matter of housing.
The following statistics are of interest:—
Number of new houses etc. erected during the year 1937 :—
(1) Total number of new houses and flats erected
within the Borough 44
(2) Number of new houses erected by the Local
Authority with State assistance under
the Housing Acts :—
(a) Within the Borough (included in
(1) above) 32
(b) Outside the Borough area Nil
(3) Number of houses and flats now owned by
the Council and let to members of the
working classes 1,548
N.B.—The Council have a Differential Rent Scheme in
operation whereby necessitous cases are enabled to enjoy a lower
rental than the normal during periods of unemployment or
other distress.