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Housing Lettings.
The responsibility for the letting of all municipal houses has
been vested in the Health Department since 1939.
As foreshadowed in earlier Annual Reports, the need for housing
accommodation has become acute with the cessation of hostilities
and particularly in respect of families created during the war years.
The application list for housing accommodation, which in 1942
totalled about 1,000, had increased by the end of 1945 to nearly
7,000 including 1,885 families of 3 or 4 persons living in one room.
Temporary Houses.
As an emergency measure, the Council agreed to the erection
of 315 temporary houses, including 50 of the American type, and the
Public Health Committee, through their Letting Sub-Committee
had the difficult task of selecting tenants for these dwellings.
Owing to size, these houses being deemed suitable only for
families of 3 or 4, e.g., husband, wife and not more than two
children, it was decided that only those families without separate
accommodation of their own, that is families sharing accommodation
with friends or relatives, could be considered. Some 1,885 families
came under this category, and therefore only one in six could be
successful. The problem thus resolved itself into finding one in six
applicants whose need was greater than the other five.
A points system was devised to "sift" applicants for visiting.
The factors taken into consideration were:—
Date of application.
Period of residence in Tottenham.
Service in H.M. Forces.
Number of children.
Loss of home by enemy action.