View report page

126
(b) Causes of Overcrowding.
The circumstances which give rise to overcrowding are:—
(i) Inability to pay the rents of vacant dwellings.—Many flats or apartments
of three or four rooms become vacant from time to time, but rents varying from
20s. to 35s., and even 40s., a week are invariably required. The persons living
under overcrowded conditions are generally of the artisan class with families of
young children. The weekly income does not often exceed £3, often it is less,
whilst unemployment, unfortunately, exists in Hackney as in the rest of the
metropolis. Thus these people are only able to afford the rent of one or two rooms.
Overcrowding is not a new problem that has suddenly arisen; in 1901 Dr. King
Warry reported to the Council on the subject, and many of the observations he
then made are applicable at the present time; it certainly appears reasonable
to suppose that if an area is abolished where rents payable are in the neighbourhood
of six or eight shillings, many of these people will endeavour to obtain housing
accommodation elsewhere at the same figure; thus Dr. King Warry, in referring to
slum clearances in Bethnal Green and Poplar, states "This has necessarily led the
occupants of these dwellings to seek housing accommodation elsewhere, which I
have reason to believe many obtained in Hackney. It is necessarily a matter of
speculation to what extent demolition under these schemes aggravated the housing
tension in Hackney, but it is not insignificant on this account." Two of the
conclusions as regards Clearance Schemes reached by Dr. King Warry in 1901
hold good to-day. Dr. King Warry points out that:—
"Past efforts as an attempt to reduce overcrowding except the overcrowding
of houses on a given site cannot be considered a success, because:—
(c) Owing to the conditions under which the new dwellings have been built,
their rental is too high to be paid by the majority of these poor tenants
displaced.
(d) The schemes have been too local, and their execution has extended over too
long a period to have had any appreciable effect in solving the housing
problem."
Consideration of the applications for housing accommodation bear out, I
consider, my contention that action in the direction of slum clearance should be
accompanied by Housing Schemes to relieve overcrowding existing outside
unhealthy areas. A clearance scheme must now provide an equal amount of
housing accommodation to that demolished. The difficulty as regards overcrowding
and the lack of alternative accommodation also explains the reluctance of the
Public Health Committee to take any step that may diminish the total housing
accommodation or hamper what is now being done to keep in repair the existing
houses. As regards Middlesex Wharf, all the houses except two, which became
actually dangerous, are still occupied, and the others becoming increasingly
ruinous, of course, will remain occupied until they become actually dangerous.
It must be borne in mind that the older the property and the more cramped the
accommodation, the less, generally speaking, is the rent paid, and this is an
important point which has considerable bearing on the subject.
This inability to pay the rents for modern accommodation is, no doubt, the
reason why only a small proportion of the persons living under overcrowded
conditions in the Borough apply for accommodation, and, no doubt, this state
of affairs exists throughout London.
(ii) Industrialisation of the Area.—The effect of the industrialisation of the
area in decreasing the housing accommodation in the Borough has been referred
to previously. This, however, has the further effect of attracting to and retaining
within the Borough those persons whose place of employment is in or near the