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83
HOUSING.
CLEARANCE AND REHOUSING.
The Housing Act, 1936, Section 154, states that the Medical Officer of Health
of a local authority shall make an official representation to the local authority whenever
he is of the opinion that any house in their district is unfit for human habitation,
or that any area in their district is an area which should be dealt with as a clearance
area.
Medical Officers of Health are not surveyors or architects, a fact that has been
referred to on many occasions at Public Inquiries, but, nevertheless, the Act specifies
that Medical Officers of Health shall represent to a local authority houses unfit for
human habitation.
Medical Officers of Health, in the course of their duties, are continually dealing
with the troubles experienced in unsatisfactory dwellings and also control a staff
of Sanitary Inspectors working under the Public Health, Housing, and other Acts.
It is suggested, therefore, that they have considerably more experience available
in respect of properties included in clearance areas than some of the qualified architects
and surveyors engaged to give evidence at the Public Inquiries. Furthermore, the
staffs of local authorities are disinterested. The Medical Officer of Health merely
points out that the features of dampness, lack of ventilation, absence of water supply,
etc., are present, or that the structure is bulged or bricks are crumbling, facts which
are visible to the eye of any person, expert or otherwise, and that the dwellings fall
below the standard of working class accommodation provided in the district.
It is not too much to say that the conscience of the country has been disturbed
by the conditions under which a large number of families have been obliged to live.
In their issue of the 26th October, 1933, the Architects' Journal paid special attention
to the London slum. On the cover of that issue appeared this remark—"This
Nation cannot afford Slums. Let it be said of our Generation that we
swept the Slums away." Inside, under the heading of "opinions" appeared the
views of many important public men, for instance, Mr. Baldwin (as he then was),
Mr. George Lansbury and other prominent politicians, officials, the clergy, and
various Press opinions on the subject of the scandal of housing conditions.
Happily the Hackney slums mentioned and illustrated in the Architects' Journal
have been demolished in spite of the opposition put forward on behalf of the owners
at the Public Inquiries, and an Order for clearance has been confirmed by the Ministry
of Health in regard to every area which was the subject of an Inquiry during 1937
or previous years, with the exception of three very small areas where an undertaking
was given that the premises would be used as stores, etc., and not for human
habitation.
Great progress in slum clearance has been made throughout the country generally;
the position for London is referred to later in this Report.
Representation by Medical Officers of Health and resulting demolition of
unsatisfactory property has been of great benefit to public health. Damp, derelict,
aged, bug-ridden dwellings are being swept away and in their place dwellings,
properly constructed and properly maintained and fitted with modern conveniences,
are being erected.
The Property Owners' Protection Association is an indefatigable body which
unceasingly, and indeed with considerable success at times, fights for the preservation
of the unsatisfactory dwelling, and one activity of this Association is to represent
the local authority to the public as being determined to rob owners of sound property
by any possible means.