View report page

OVERCROWDING SURVEY.
Considerable interruption of the normal work of the Sanitary
Inspectors was caused by the Overcrowding Survey under the
Housing Act, 1935. The procedure adopted in respect of nearly
50,000 houses was for each house to be visited by a temporary
assistant who obtained details as to occupants and their distribution,
number of rooms, landlord, etc., and for the sanitary inspectors
to measure the houses, calculate the permitted numbers
and enter these on cards, there being one card per house.
The result of this survey is that there are nearly 50,000 cards
in the file showing the measurements of every room in every
working class house and the permitted number for each house
or part of a house, if occupied separately. In the event of the
rooms of a house being re-distributed in the future, the new
permitted number for each part of the house can be calculated
from the measurements for each room already available.
The Report was submitted to the Council and forwarded lo
the Ministry of Health in May. Certificates of permitted numbers
are being sent lo all landlords whether applied for or not.
Where a house is occupied by more than one family, a permitted
number is supplied for each tenancy, but not for the house as a
whole.
The results showed that our of 68,693 families 5,764, or 8.39
percent. were overcrowded, although 191,1 families, or 33 percent.
were overcrowded to the extent of half a person only (i.e.
a child under 10 years of age) in excess of the permitted number
and no less than 58 percent. of the overcrowded families were
overcrowded to the extent of one person or less.
The percentage of families overcrowded in the various
Wards in the Borough is as follows:—
Beckton Road 16.07 percent.
Bemersyde 3.71 ,,
Broadway 8.11 ,,
Canning Town and Grange 12.69 ,,
Custom House and Silvertown 10.33 ,,
Forest Gate 3.10 ,,
High Street 13.80 ,,
Hudsons 5.35 ,,
Ordnance 14.83 ,,
New Town 5.72 ,,
Park 2.82 ,,
Plaistow 5.90 ,,
Plashet Road 3.25 ,,
Tidal Basin 22.2 ,,
Upton 1.47 ,,
West Ham 6.12 ,,
Average 8.39 ,,
84